By Dr Charles Shepherd, Hon. Medical Adviser, ME Association.
The ME Association has always regarded funding biomedical research – into the underlying physical cause of ME/CFS, diagnostic biomarkers, effective forms of treatment – as a key priority for the charity.
We therefore established the MEA Ramsay Research Fund – where all money donated or raised for research goes direct to research activity. There are no salaries or administrative costs to pay – such costs are all met from the charity's general funds.
Research projects and research infrastructure that the MEA Ramsay Research Fund is currently funding, or has been funding, includes:
- The ME Biobank, which is part of the University College London Biobank at the Royal Free Hospital in London. Trustees have recently agreed to continue to fund all the basic running costs of the ME Biobank in 2018 and 2019. Additional information on the ME Biobank can be found on their website.
- Post-mortem tissue research at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge.
- MicroRNA profile and biomarker research involving blood samples that have been collected from people with severe ME/CFS that come from the ME Biobank.
- Metabolomic research with Dr Karl Morten at the University of Oxford.
- Mitochondrial and muscle function research at the Universities of Liverpool, Oxford and Newcastle.
A complete list of all current and recent research projects funded by the Ramsay Research Fund can be found in the research section of the ME Association website. Details on how to donate to the Ramsay Research Fund can also be found in this section.
All the research we are funding constitutes what we regard as high priority research – considering what we can afford to fund and the availability of high quality researchers who are willing to carry out research into M.E.
We believe it is important to obtain regular feedback from people with M.E. as to what they regard as the most important priorities for UK research. So, please let us know what you believe should be the top research priorities for 2018 in this month's website survey.
The website survey can be found on the homepage of our website (towards the bottom of the page)
You can make up to three selections from the list of options. If your choice isn't on the list, or if you would like to pass on any other feedback on research that we are funding, or propose to fund, please let us know by leaving a comment below this blog, or on our social media pages, or via email to our head office.
Thank you.