Open Medicine Foundation Expands ME/CFS Research
New ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center in Uppsala, Sweden, joins centers at Stanford and Harvard
LOS ANGELES, April 2, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Open Medicine Foundation, the world's leading fundraiser for research into diagnosing, treating, and curing the disease known as ME/CFS, or Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, has just launched its third ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center at Uppsala University in Sweden.
The new Uppsala Center will be led by OMF Scientific Advisory Board member Jonas Bergquist, MD, PhD, and will work synergistically with the existing ME/CFS Collaborative Research Centers – one at Stanford, led by Ronald W. Davis, PhD, and the other at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Affiliated Hospitals, led by Ronald G. Tompkins, MD, ScD, and Wenzhong Xiao, PhD, of Harvard University. All science funded by OMF continues to be under the overall guidance of OMF's Scientific Advisory Board, directed by Dr. Davis.
Since its founding in 2012, OMF has funded teams of researchers who openly share their findings with other scientists. OMF sponsors an annual symposium at Stanford University to bring leading researchers together. OMF is now funding the same number of ME/CFS Collaborative Research Centers through private funding as the NIH does with government grants.
With up to 2.5 million people in the U.S. and 20 million globally being struck down by this debilitating illness, the main goal for OMF is to urgently raise funds to expand and support the current ME/CFS research network. OMF has already committed a total of $10 million for its three centers.
The Stanford Collaborative Research Center is investigating the molecular basis of the disease using several cutting-edge technologies. They are also developing blood-based diagnostics and drug-screening technologies to enable a fast, inexpensive diagnosis of ME/CFS and the discovery of new treatments.
The ME/CFS Collaborative Research Center at MGH and the Harvard Affiliated Hospitals is studying the central feature of ME/CFS, the significant exacerbation of symptoms due to mild-to-moderate exertion, by monitoring patient muscle biopsies during their recovery from muscular stress.
The new Uppsala Center will continue the search for small markers significant for ME/CFS, including the study of cerebrospinal fluid as a unique source of neurochemical biomarkers, with the goal of building evidence-based strategies for disease interventions.
Linda Tannenbaum, CEO/President of OMF, says of this expansion, "OMF is thrilled to launch our third center to accelerate the pace of research to help patients around the world."
Founded as a nonprofit by Tannenbaum in 2012, OMF has raised over $18 million to fund research and increase public awareness with the patient and medical communities. The research that OMF fundraises for is guided by a renowned Scientific Advisory Board, including two Nobel laureates and five members of the National Academy of Sciences. www.omf.ngo
Contact:
Sylvia Paull
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SOURCE Open Medicine Foundation
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