A Collaborative Research Proposal with the CMRC

The CureME team at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is excited to announce that it is collaborating with the UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative (CMRC), to submit a research proposal on ME/CFS to the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). The CureME team is a critical partner in this informed and competitive submission, and is focusing at this early stage on developing the research proposal and ensuring the accurate categorisation of people with ME/CFS, using diagnostic criteria harmonised with our own protocols and with the US Centers of Excellence for ME/CFS (NIH funded). We will also continue our own research within the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, supporting transparent, multidisciplinary research informed by and for the benefit of people with ME/CFS. We are confident that this collaboration will help to accelerate much-needed research in this field, enabling further biomedical studies into well-defined ME/CFS.

The full statement about the joint proposal can be found below:

“The UK CFS/ME Research Collaborative (CMRC) and the CureME research team – UK ME/CFS Biobank – at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) have collaboratively identified a research proposal that it is seeking to take forward to the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). To enable the researchers to develop a fully informed and competitive proposal, the MRC/NIHR is supporting a workshop to bring together scientists, charities and patients, to provide recommendations to improve the proposed research proposal. Following this workshop, a research application will be submitted to MRC and NIHR for consideration for funding, following peer review.”

Please see these FAQs about the research proposal:

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UPDATE: 28th November 2019

A workshop was held on Monday 25th November, hosted by the MRC and NIHR, to bring together scientists, charities and patients, to provide recommendations to improve the research proposal that has been jointly developed by CureME and the CMRC.

After discussion at the workshop, it was agreed that within the funding available, we likely cannot also expand the UK ME/CFS Biobank with samples other than saliva.

The CureME team remains committed to the expansion and maintenance of the Biobank. We will continue recruiting participants as part of our NIH- and MEA-funded work, and look forward to receiving further funding from the MEA in the New Year. We will also continue to seek funding for biobanking, clinical epidemiology and laboratory research at the LSHTM, and continue our current enquiries into the immunology, virology, genetic expression and metabolomics of ME/CFS.

We hope to receive further grant funding in these areas, to complement the strong GWAS proposal developed with the CMRC, which we are delighted to be involved with.

A full report from the proposal’s Patient & Public Involvement (PPI) Group is included below: