Invest in ME -6th International ME/CFS Conference 2011

[Guest guest]

Invest in ME

6th Invest in ME

International ME/CFS

Conference 2011

The Way Forward for ME -

A Case for Clinical Trials

Welcome to the 6th Invest in ME International

ME/CFS Conference 2011 in Westminster, London,

UK, on 20th May 2011.

Today Invest in ME announce the speakers at the

conference (see below).

The key to resolving, treating and curing ME/CFS lies

in biomedical research. Healthcare staff need to be

aware of the latest biomedical research into ME/CFS

as well as the multiple symptoms exhibited by

ME/CFS patients and of the possible treatments

available.

The education of healthcare staff about ME/CFS now

needs to break with the past and reflect the

newfound knowledge about the pathogenesis of

ME/CFS which high quality biomedical research is

providing.

The conference will be oriented toward providing

healthcare staff and others with knowledge of the

latest research, clinical trials and the biomarkers

which allow appropriate treatments to be prescribed.

The Invest in ME biomedical research conferences

began in 2006 and was followed with a 2-day

conference in 2007. Our 2008 conference focused on

Sub Grouping and Treatments and showed

indisputable proof from leading ME/CFS experts

regarding the organic basis and pathology of this

illness. Our 2009 conference was oriented toward the

severely-affected patients with ME/CFS.

Our 2010 conference heralded a new era of ME/CFS

research based on biomedical research which had

energised and empowered patients after the

discovery of the xenotropic murine leukemia

virus-related virus (XMRV) in patients with ME/CFS by

the Whittemore- Institute, the US National

Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic of Ohio.

Now the way forward for ME is to bring new

awareness of this disease to researchers and

potential funders of biomedical research and

instigate clinical trials to give healthcare providers

the tools to help their patients.

Translational biomedical research - an iterative

feedback of information between the basic and

clinical research domains in order to accelerate

knowledge translation from the lab to the bedside

and back to the lab again - needs to be implemented

to translate the findings in basic research more

quickly and efficiently into medical practice.

This will produce more meaningful health outcomes

and facilitate the sharing of repositories and

research-based facilities and laboratories. This is

the model IiME are attempting to promote in the

proposal for a UK Centre of Excellence based in

Norwich [click here: http://tinyurl.com/2f6gk66 ].

Research data and experiences of managing and

treating ME/CFS will be presented as will findings

from the latest biomedical research.

The time is right for a scientific approach to research

and treatment associated with ME/CFS.

Conference Speakers

Invest in ME are pleased to announce the following

speakers at the conference:

Dr. Bell MD

Dr. Bell graduated from Harvard College and

gained an MD degree at Boston University. Post

doctoral training in paediatrics was completed with

subspecialty training in Paediatric Behavior and

Developmental Disorders.

In 1978 he began work at the University of Rochester

and then began a private practice in the town of

Lyndonville, New York.

In 1985 nearly 220 persons became ill with an illness

subsequently called chronic fatigue syndrome in the

communities surrounding Lyndonville, New York.

This illness cluster began a study of the illness which

continues today. Dr. Bell is the author or

co-author of numerous scientific papers on CFS, and,

in 2003 was named Chairman of the Advisory

Committee for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome of the

Department of Health and Human Services.

Publications include A Disease of A Thousand Names,

(1988) and The Doctor's Guide to Chronic Fatigue

Syndrome, (1990).

Dr. Bell is currently performing ME/CFS research into

the XMRV retrovirus.

Mrs. Annette Whittemore

Founder and President of the Whittemore

Institute for Neuroimmune Diseases, Reno, Nevada,

USA. The Institute is located on the medical campus

of the University of Nevada.

Its mission is to serve those with complex

neuro-immune diseases such as ME/CFS, viral

induced central nervous system dysfunction and

fibromyalgia.

Annette Whittemore graduated in Elementary and

Special Education at the University of Nevada and

taught children with neuro-cognitive deficits, such as

those found in autism, ADD, and learning

disabilities.

As the president and director of the current

operations at the Institute Annette supports the

basic and clinical research program, and actively

recruits physicians and other support personnel for

the Institute.

Dr Judy Mikovits PhD

Judy Mikovits is Research Director at the Whittemore

Institute for Neuro-Immune Diseases and

has co-authored over 40 peer reviewed publications

that address fundamental issues of viral

pathogenesis, hematopoiesis and cytokine biology.

Formally trained as a cell biologist, molecular

biologist and virologist, Dr. Mikovits has studied the

immune response to retroviruses and herpes viruses

including HIV, SIV, HTLVI, HERV, HHV6 and HHV8

with a special emphasis on virus host cell

interactions in cells of the hematopoietic system

including hematopoietic stem cells (HSC).

Dr Mikovits is one of the authors of the

ground-breaking study published in Science magazine

in October 2009 which detected XMRV in CFS

patients (Detection of an infectious retrovirus,

XMRV, in blood cells of patients with chronic fatigue

syndrome) and is a member of the US Department of

Health and Human Services Blood Working Group.

Professor Kenny De Meirleir

MD, PhD

Professor De Meirleir is a world renowned researcher

of ME/CFS. He is full professor of physiology,

pathophysiology and medicine at the Virje

Universitet Brussel and practices Internal Medicine at

Himmunitas Foundation also in Brussels and has

published several hundred peer reviewed articles and

is co-author of the book *Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:

a biological approach* and was co-editor of the

Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and reviewer

for more than 10 other medical journals.

Professor De Meirleir was one of four international

experts on the panel that developed the Canadian

Consensus Document for ME/CFS.

He assesses/treats thousands of ME/CFS patients

annually and is the most experienced researcher in

Europe regarding ME/CFS.

His research activities in ME/CFS date back to 1990.

His other research activities in exercise physiology,

metabolism and endocrinology have led to the Solvay

Prize and the NATO research award.

Dr Montoya MD

Associate Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases

and Geographic Medicine), Stanford University,

California, USA and Director, Toxoplasmosis National

Reference Laboratory at Palo Alto Medical

Foundation, California, USA.

He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at

Tulane University. Dr Montoya then completed his

post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University.

Currently, he is serving as an associate professor in

Infectious Diseases at Stanford. He has worked on a

wide variety of projects in this field including

research focused on the efficacy of new smallpox

vaccines.

Additionally, he is the founder and co-director of the

Immunocompromised Host Service and works at the

Positive Care Clinic at Stanford.

Dr. Montoya specializes in toxoplasmosis and

infectious diseases particularly as it pertains to

cardiac transplants and AIDS patients.

Dr. Montoya is also the recipient of many Stanford

teaching awards, including the Bloomfield, Ebaugh,

Kaiser and Rytand awards.

Currently Stanford University is taking a very active

role in the study of patients with unexplained chronic

illnesses such as chronic Lyme disease, chronic

fatigue syndrome and multiple sclerosis.

Dr. Chia MD

Dr Chia is an infectious disease specialist, Torrance,

California, USA. He has published research ( " Chronic

fatigue syndrome associated with chronic enterovirus

infection of the stomach " ) on the role of

enteroviruses in the aetiology of ME/CFS - an area

which has been implicated as one of the causes by a

number of studies.

There are more than 70 different types of

enteroviruses that can affect the central nervous

system, heart and muscles, all of which is consistent

with the symptoms of ME/CFS.

By analyzing samples of stomach tissue from 165

patients with CFS, Dr. Chia's team discovered that

82% of these individuals had high levels of

enteroviruses in their digestive systems.

Dr Chia's research may result in the development of

antiviral drugs to treat the debilitating symptoms of

ME/CFS.

Professor Olav Mella MD, PhD

and/or Dr Oystein Fluge MD,

PhD (tbc)

from the Institute of Medicine, Section of Oncology,

University of Bergen, Norway and Department of

Oncology and Medical Physics, Haukeland University

Hospital, Bergen, Norway.

Professor Mella and Dr Fluge have performed clinical

trials to test the benefit of B-cell depletion therapy

using Rituximab in ME/CFS patients.

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We hope to have news of additional speakers

shortly.

Also present at the conference will be

representatives of the European ME Alliance (EMEA)

as the EMEA AGM takes place after the conference.

CPD Accreditation from the Royal colleges has been

applied for and we hope to obtain the maximum

credits for the conference, as in previous years.

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Discounted rate - Sponsor a Medic: IiME are

again offering a discounted rate for healthcare staff

who attend in connection with a local ME Support

Group. IiME welcome all professionals who are

working with, or have an interest in, ME/CFS.

Background:

The Invest in ME conferences have attracted

presenters and delegates from fifteen countries and

our DVDs of the conferences have been distributed to

over 20 countries including Europe, USA, Canada,

Australia and New Zealand.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis is a serious neurological

illness (classified by the World Health Organisation

under ICD-10-93.3) that causes severe problems for

an estimated 250,000 people in the UK, of whom

25,000 are estimated to be children and young

people.

It is five times more prevalent than HIV/AIDS in the

UK and the leading cause of long term absence of

children from school through sickness.

The conference will be a unique opportunity to be

informed of the latest research and information from

some of the leading experts on ME/CFS in the areas

of diagnosis, management, treatment, epidemiology

and research.

Conference Registration:

Full details of the conference can be found at this

address - click here: http://tinyurl.com/22kfekc

Should you have any further questions relating to the

conference please contact us at:

meconference@...

We look forward to welcoming you to the conference,

Invest in ME

UK Registered Charity Nr. 1114035

Invest in ME, PO BOX 561, Eastleigh SO50

0GQ, Hampshire, UK