Announcing OMF's First ME/CFS Clinical Trial!

Get the details
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME / CFS) Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), Fibromyalgia Leading Research. Delivering Hope.Open Medicine Foundation® Canada

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

Donate
Sign Up
Main Menu

OMF & Patient-Led Research Collaborative: Pioneering Progress for ME/CFS and Long COVID

OMF & Patient-Led Research Collaborative

Pioneering Progress for ME/CFS and Long COVID

Open Medicine Foundation (OMF) is dedicated to finding diagnostic tools, treatments, and a cure for ME/CFS and related multi-system chronic complex diseases (msCCDs). Our current Long COVID and ME/CFS research is providing us with valuable insights into post-infection disease. We hope to use this knowledge to find solutions for all those affected by these debilitating illnesses.

In late 2022, OMF was honored to be awarded with three research grants from Patient Led Research Collaborative (PLRC). These research projects will investigate three key areas: sleep, drug repurposing, and multi-omics of ME/CFS and Long COVID. 

These studies will provide further understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying these diseases and may help us identify new treatment options.

Who is the Patient-Led Research Collaborative (PLRC)?

The Patient-Led Research Collaborative is a group of Long COVID patients who are also researchers of their own condition. Born out of the Body Politic support group, PLRC published the first research on Long COVID in April 2020. Since then, the collaborative has published peer-reviewed papers in the Lancet and Nature, as well as working with the CDC, WHO and NIH.

The group is composed of researchers and patient advocates in relevant fields such as biomedical research, participatory research, neuroscience, cognitive science, public policy, machine learning, and health activism. Through expertise in their field and personal experiences with Long COVID guided by ME/CFS and associated conditions, PLRC has been co-designing research for patients, by patients — all while following rigorous methodology.

OMF & PLRC- Funding to Pilot Research Discoveries!

At the end of last year, the Patient-Led Research Collaborative announced $4.8 million in biomedical research awards for Long COVID and associated conditions such as ME/CFS and dysautonomia. This innovative model of funding research was led by a panel of patient experts who set research priorities and chose studies to be funded. The grant for the Patient-Led Research Fund was donated by Balvi, a philanthropic fund whose big vision put significant investment towards COVID research.

Our OMF supported Collaborative Research Centers were generously awarded a portion of the funding for the following studies:

  • Characterizing non-restorative sleep in post-viral disease to advance intervention innovations
  •  Systems Biology Approaches to Uncovering Disease Mechanism and Drug Repurposing for Long COVID
  • Multi-omic approAches to Solve post-Acute COVID-19/SARS-CoV-2 Syndrome

 

Click here for more information on these studies!

 

We believe that the research projects funded by the Patient-Led Research Collaborative are groundbreaking initiatives that can help us better understand Long COVID, ME/CFS, and related diseases. These studies have the potential to pave the way for more effective treatment options and improved quality of life for those affected by these illnesses.
 
To further advance these efforts, we invite you to make a donation to OMFCA today. Your contribution, no matter the amount, can help us accelerate progress towards understanding and treating Long COVID, ME/CFS, and related diseases.

Donate now

Consent management

Consent Preferences

Data Subject Access Request (DSAR) Form 

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.
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.
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.
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.