Driving research of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME / CFS),
Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), Fibromyalgia and Post COVID .

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POWERED BY OPEN COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH

The End ME/CFS Project encompasses OMF funded and facilitated research conducted within six ME/CFS Collaborative Research Centers (CRCs). OMFCA’s guiding strategy focuses on open, collaborative research so that precise diagnostic tools and life-changing treatments can be available to people with related chronic complex diseases as soon as possible.

Funding an internationally-based research network instead of single researchers ensures the stability and collaboration essential for an outcomes-focused, transparent, and multi-pronged approach to finding answers

OMF COLLABORATIVE NETWORK

The six CRCs are working collaboratively to build a repository of data about ME/CFS and related chronic, complex diseases such as Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), Fibromyalgia and Post COVID-19.

This data is essential to develop diagnostic technologies, understand the molecular basis of the diseases, and uncover effective diagnostic tools and treatments.

ME / CFS Collaborative
Research Center

at Stanford
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The Ronald G. Tompkins Harvard
ME / CFS Collaboration

at Harvard Affiliated Hospitals
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ME / CFS Collaborative
Research Center

at Uppsala, Sweden
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ME / CFS Collaborative
Research Center

at the CHU Sainte-Justine/
Université de Montréal​​
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Melbourne
ME / CFS Collaboration

at Melbourne, Australia
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Computational Research Center for Complex Diseases



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Major Research Initiatives

With oversight from OMF’s Boards of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board, the following research projects further OMFCA’s Strategic Goals to improve the diagnosis and treatment of ME/CFS, Post-treatment Lyme Disease, and related chronic, complex diseases. 

Current

Previous

Post COVID-19 to ME/CFS Research Plan

The current COVID-19 pandemic offers an unprecedented opportunity to understand how a viral infection may convert to ME/CFS in some patients.

The six ME/CFS Collaborative Centers have begun a unique,  extensive, in-depth longitudinal molecular study following COVID-19 patients. Their shared goal is to determine the pathways involved in maintaining long-term symptoms in some patients,  possibly converting to ME/CFS. They seek to learn about these pathways so as to develop biomarkers, novel drug targets,  new treatment, and prevention strategies.

OMF–Funded Research Publications
  1. Systematic Review of NMR-Based Metabolomics Practices in Human Disease Research by Katherine Huang , Natalie Thomas , Paul R. Gooley and Christopher W. Armstrong 
  2. When a 17-Year-Old Girl Is Diagnosed with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: A Case Study from the Swedish Health Care System—A Parent
    Perspective by Eva Bojner Horwitz, Jonas Axelsson, Olli Polo, Leif Widebert, Töres Theorell, Anabelle Paulino, David Ullman, Jonas Bergquist
  3. Predictors of post-COVID-19 and the impact of persistent symptoms in nonhospitalized patients 12 months after COVID-19, with a focus on work ability by Marta A. Kisiel, Helena Janols, Tobias Nordqvist, Jonas Bergquist, Simone Hagfeldt, Andrei Malinovschi and Magnus Svartengren
  4. Phenotypic Characteristics of Peripheral Immune Cells of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome via Transmission Electron Microscopy: A Pilot Study by Fereshteh Jahanbani, Rajan D. Maynard, Justin Cyril Sing, Shaghayegh Jahanbani, John J. Perrino, Damek V. Spacek, Ronald W. Davis, Michael P. Snyder
  5. Neurovascular Dysregulation and Acute Exercise Intolerance in ME/CFS: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Pyridostigmine by Phillip Joseph, MD, Rosa Pari, MD, Sarah Miller, BS, Arabella Warren, BS, Mary
    Catherine Stovall, BS, Johanna Squires, MSc, Chia-Jung Chang, PhD, Wenzhong
    Xiao, PhD, Aaron B. Waxman, MD, PhD, David M. Systrom, MD
  6. The underlying sex differences in neuroendocrine adaptations relevant to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Natalie Thomas, Caroline Gurvich, Katherine Huang, Paul R Gooley, Christopher W Armstrong
  7. Drawing on Findings From Critical Illness to Explain Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Jonas Bergquist and Dominic Stanculescu
  8. Lessons From Heat Stroke for Understanding Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome by Dominic Stanculescu, Nuno Sepúlveda, Chin Leong Lim and Jonas Bergquist
  9. A Comprehensive Examination of Severely Ill ME/CFS Patients,”  by Ronald W. Davis, PhD and Wenzhong Xiao, PhD, Stanford Collaboration
  10. Theory: Treatments for Prolonged ICU Patients May Provide New Therapeutic Avenues for ME/CFS, by Jonas Bergquist, MD, PhD, Uppsala Collaboration
  11. Phase 1 study to access safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics09, and pharmacodynamics of kynurenine in healthy volunteers, by Jonas Bergquist, Uppsala Collaboration 
  12. Insights from Invasive Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing by David Systrom, MD, Harvard Collaboration
  13. Mechanisms That Prevent Recovery in Prolonged ICU Patients Also Underlie ME/CFS by Jonas Bergquist, MD, PhD, Uppsala Collaboration
  14. Microfluidic Point-of-Care Testing: Commercial Landscape and Future Directions by Ronald W. Davis, PhD and Amit K. Saha, Stanford Collaboration
  15. Profile of circulating microRNAs in myalgic encephalomyelitis and their relation to symptom severity, and disease pathophysiology by Alain Moreau, PhD, Montreal Collaboration
  16. Autoantibodies to beta-adrenergic and muscarinic cholinergic receptors in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) patients by Jonas Bergquist, Uppsala Collaboration
  17. Acute necrotizing encephalopathy with SARS-CoV-2 RNA confirmed in cerebrospinal fluid by Jonas Bergquist, Uppsala Collaboration
  18. The IDO Metabolic Trap Hypothesis for the Etiology of ME/CFS by Robert D. Phair, PhD and Ron Davis, PhD, Stanford Collaboration
  19. A Nanoelectronics-blood-based diagnostic biomarker for ME / CFS by Rahim Esfandyarpour, PhD and Ronald W. Davis, PhD, Stanford Collaboration
  20. Red Blood Cell Deformability is diminished in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, by Anand Ramasubramanian, PhD and Ronald Davis, PhD, Stanford Collaboration
  21. Metabolic features of chronic fatigue syndrome by Robert Naviaux, MD, PhD, Stanford Collaboration
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NMR Metabolomics
NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) is an instrument/tool used to perform metabolic studies, metabolic profiling, and metabolomics in biofluids and tissues for more than 40 years using magnetic fields. There is a very close connection between metabolic measurements and NMR. This connection has flourished because of NMR’s many unique strengths for characterizing complex mixtures’ chemical composition.
Proteomics
The large-scale study of proteins, which are large, complex molecules that are required for structure, function, and regulation of the human body's tissues and organs.
Microvesicles and viral sequencing
Microvesicles are a type of extracellular vesicle that is released from the cell membrane. Vesicles are small, fluid-filled sacs or vacuoles within the body. Sequencing is a technique used to determine the exact sequence of bases (A, C, G, and T) in a DNA (or viral) molecule.
Micro RNA
Cells use Micro RNA to control whether a particular gene is making too much, too little or the normal amount of its protein at a particular time.
Autoantibodies
Antibodies that react with self-molecules and that occur in healthy individuals and are referred to as natural antibodies or autoantibodies.
Extracellular DNA for viral reactivation and Mitochondrial DNA
exDNA (extracellular DNA), exDNA is often secreted actively and is used to perform several tasks, thereby offering an attractive target or tool for biotechnological, medical, environmental, and general microbiological applications. Viruses are intracellular parasites that rely to a significant extent on the host cell for replication. Viral reactivation occurs when an active replication of the viral genome results in a lytic (degradation of the cell) infection characterized by the release of new progeny (descendant) virus particles.
Immune cell profiling
The immune system has many important regulatory roles in disease development and progression. Given the emergence of effective immune therapies, reliable predictors of response are needed. Immune cell profiling determines response by evaluating immune cell populations from treated and untreated samples. For our purposes, we will evaluate the white blood cell response to the viral infection using a process called “Cytof.”
Leukocyte Genomics
A leukocyte is a colorless cell circulating in the blood and body fluids and is involved in counteracting foreign substances and disease. A genome is all genetic material of an organism. Genomics is a biology field focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. Therefore, leukocyte genomics is the study of all genetic material of leukocytes.
Metabolomics
Metabolomics is a way to study metabolism – that is, through measuring amounts of the metabolites (small molecules) produced by our bodies as we convert food into energy and other molecules that our cells need to survive. Metabolomics technology is ‘large-scale,’ meaning that several thousand metabolites can be measured from a single sample of e.g., blood or urine.