Solve M.E. Announces Catalyst Award Funding To Renegade Research For the Study of Therapeutic Devices for People with ME/CFS and Long Covid

Solve's backing will enable a structured pipeline to proactively identify, prioritize, and rigorously evaluate promising technologies relevant to the ME/CFS and Long Covid communities.

LOS ANGELES, July 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Solve M.E., a nonprofit advancing research into ME/CFS, Long Covid, and related chronic conditions, today announced Renegade Research as the latest recipient of its Catalyst Award Program funding for their study, "SIGNAL: A Decentralized Discovery Platform for Emerging Therapeutic Devices in ME/CFS and Long Covid." 

The SIGNAL project is built around a device lending library through which people diagnosed with ME/CFS and Long Covid may borrow promising therapeutic devices, shipped directly to their homes at no cost, for a three-month lending period. While borrowing, participants contribute standardized longitudinal data through the Brain Inflammation Collaborative (BIC) and Solve M.E. unhide® Solve Together platform. This allows each lending cycle to be a real-world research opportunity.

The project is led by SIGNAL Project Director Tess Falor, PhD, with SIGNAL Co-PIs Todd Davenport, DPT, PhD, MPH, and Maya Lindemann, RN, BSN. Additional team members include SIGNAL Advisor Jarred Younger, PhD, University of Alabama, SIGNAL Medical Advisor John Haughton, MD, MS, and SIGNAL Advisor Rivka Solomon, MS.

Solve's Catalyst Award will launch Renegade Research's study of two devices: the Truvaga vagus nerve stimulation device and the Vielight red light therapy device. While these devices represent the first technologies to be evaluated, the award is designed to establish a scalable, patient-centered framework that can incorporate additional devices as they emerge and generate meaningful real-world evidence to inform future research and patient care. By providing participants with access to devices that are often expensive and not covered by insurance, the project also helps reduce financial barriers to exploring promising symptom management options. 

Solve's investment in this Renegade Research initiative will expand patient participation, accelerate data collection, and increase the speed with which findings can be shared with the community. 

The Solve M.E. Catalyst Award Program supports innovative, high-impact research projects capable of accelerating discovery and improving care for people with ME/CFS, Long Covid, and related infection-associated chronic conditions. The program is designed to fund bold ideas that can quickly generate actionable evidence while laying the foundation for larger scientific advances. 

Solve President and CEO Emily Taylor said, "We selected the Renegade Research project for Catalyst funding because it's patient-led and uses promising findings to address the urgent and unmet need for treatments in our community. It's designed to rapidly identify which device-based therapies appear most effective, for whom they work best, and which symptoms they improve. Rather than waiting years for traditional clinical trial results, patients, caregivers, clinicians, and researchers can use the study findings to make better-informed decisions, sooner."

Taylor added, "Importantly, the SIGNAL study was designed to also be accessible to the 25% of patients who are housebound and severely ill, enabling researchers to collect data that could lead to better treatment and support strategies for the largest–yet least studied–subgroup of the ME/CFS and Long Covid populations."

Studying severely ill populations is vital to understanding the full spectrum of these diseases, improving care pathways, adapting research methods for vulnerable populations, and ensuring that research priorities reflect the realities of those most affected.

People with ME/CFS and Long Covid interested in participating in the SIGNAL study and device lending library can sign up here. 

ABOUT SOLVE M.E. The Solve ME/CFS Initiative (Solve M.E.) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research and accelerating progress for people living with ME/CFS, Long Covid, and other infection-associated chronic conditions and illnesses (IACCIs). We collaborate with researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and patient communities to accelerate diagnosis, treatment, and breakthroughs that can improve millions of lives.

SOURCE Solve M.E.