New Horizons: International Conference on ME/CFS Biomedical Research

The ‘New Horizons’ conference on ME/CFS biomedical research — co-sponsored jointly by ME Research UK and the Irish ME Trust was held at the Edinburgh Conference Centre, part of the leafy, disability-friendly campus of Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh on 25th May 2007. The audience of 130 included researchers from around the world, healthcare           professionals, representatives from local support groups, and delegates from most of the  larger ME/CFS charities in the UK. Read Hosted and organised by ME Research UK, and     co-sponsored by the Irish ME Trust the New Horizons International Conference on ME/CFS Biomedical Research took place on Friday 25th May 2007, at the Edinburgh Conference    Centre, a purpose-built and disability-friendly venue in an attractive campus setting at  Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.

This event was the first International Conference on ME/CFS biomedical research ever to be held in the UK. Many of the 130 attendees were biomedical researchers, some funded by ME Research UK, but there were also representatives from a variety of healthcare professions, and delegates from local ME/CFS support groups in the UK, Norway, Canada and Egypt. In addition, there were representatives from most ME charities, including Invest in ME and the 25% ME Group. The aim of the day was to bring together researchers working towards      understanding the biomedical basis of ME/CFS, and to raise awareness of the need for     biomedical investigation of the illness. The full day’s programme consisted of invited keynote lectures and shorter research presentations from scientists from Scotland, England, USA, Canada, Belgium, Spain and Japan.  order a copy of our 2-DVD set of the presentations

 The conference was opened by Alex Fergusson MSP, Presiding Officer (Speaker) of the Scottish Parliament, and former Chair of the Cross-Party Group on ME at the Parliament. Alex spoke of his own family’s experience of ME/CFS, stressing the need for research to move beyond psychosocial aspects and towards the elucidation of the pathophysiology of    the physical illness.

Dr Vance Spence of ME Research UK chaired all the sessions, and his first task was to      acknowledge the support given by various groups, most notably the  25% ME Group which  supports bedbound and housebound people with the illness, and which had contributed        financially towards speakers' travel costs; Invest in ME, the energetic organisation which  had worked in conference partnership with ME Research UK during 2007.                          Ross Coomber and the Friends of Matthew Stone who gave stalwart support, including the conference banner; the News International Charity Fund which gave a donation towards the production of the conference DVD; and to the anonymous benefactor for a substantial        donation towards the conference costs.

The first keynote lecture was by Dr Jonathan Kerr, the Sir Joseph Hotung Senior Lecturer in Inflammation and Honorary Consultant in Microbiology in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, St George’s University of London. His interest in the illness began during a study of  parvovirus B19 infection, which showed that a percentage of infected cases      developed ME/CFS persisting for several years, and he is now principal investigator of a    research group on gene expression in ME/CFS, which could lead to a diagnostic test…….

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