Dr Neil Harrison – Dr Jade Thai University of Bristol – Dr Thai described the results of her survey of all the neuroimaging studies structural and – functional MRI scans, PET scans, etc - that have been carried out between 1991 and 2016 in ME/CFS and published in the medical journals. Although we now have a considerable number of studies in this area, many of them have used small numbers of patients and produced inconsistent results. What is needed are much larger studies, longitudinal studies (i.e. following changes over the course of time) and multi- site studies that make use of multimodal neuroimaging. Phil Murray and Rachel E Patient Advisory Group MEGA bioresource project – Mr Murray gave an excellent presentation on how patients can play a constructive and (where necessary) critical role in helping to develop research protocols. Rachel gave an equally good presentation from home via video recording. Workshops Part of the final afternoon was then devoted to a choice of three Workshops covering: The management of orthostatic intolerance Prof. Peter Rowe, John Hopkins – Children’s Centre for CFS How can we work better together to drive scientific breakthrough in ME/CFS? Dr – Mark Edwards, ST&I Partnerships, and, Daily fluctuations in fatigue: using technology to identify patterns, predictors and potential solutions John McBeth and Katie Druce, University of Manchester – Dr Mark Edwards ST&I Partnerships Pharmaceutical Industry – – Dr Edwards led the afternoon workshop that I attended on how the patient community, researchers, clinicians, and the pharmaceutical industry, can all work together to drive scientific breakthroughs into both causation and management of ME/CFS.
Dr Neil Harrison – Dr Jade Thai – University of Bristol Dr Thai described the results of her survey of all the neuroimaging studies – structural and functional MRI scans, PET scans, etc - that have been carried out between 1991 and 2016 in ME/CFS and published in the medical journals. Although we now have a considerable number of studies in this area, many of them have used small numbers of patients and produced inconsistent results. What is needed are much larger studies, longitudinal studies (i.e. following changes over the course of time) and multi- site studies that make use of multimodal neuroimaging. Phil Murray and Rachel E Patient Advisory Group – MEGA bioresource project Mr Murray gave an excellent presentation on how patients can play a constructive and (where necessary) critical role in helping to develop research protocols. Rachel gave an equally good presentation from home via video recording. Workshops Part of the final afternoon was then devoted to a choice of three Workshops covering: The management of orthostatic intolerance – Prof. Peter Rowe, John Hopkins Children’s Centre for CFS How can we work better together to drive scientific breakthrough in ME/CFS? – Dr Mark Edwards, ST&I Partnerships, and, Daily fluctuations in fatigue: using technology to identify patterns, predictors and potential solutions – John McBeth and Katie Druce, University of Manchester Dr Mark Edwards – ST&I Partnerships – Pharmaceutical Industry Dr Edwards led the afternoon workshop that I attended on how the patient community, researchers, clinicians, and the pharmaceutical industry, can all work together to drive scientific breakthroughs into both causation and management of ME/CFS.