Research Workshop on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
A one-day workshop on ‘New developments in the biology of chronic fatigue syndrome’ took place at the West Park Conference Centre at the University of Dundee on 3rd October 2003. Funded by a Royal Society of Edinburgh grant (under its RSE/Wellcome Trust Research Workshops Scheme) awarded to Dr Gwen Kennedy of the Vascular Diseases Research Unit, University of Dundee, the aim was to bring together a specially-invited audience of around 35 practising scientists to discuss biomedical developments and potential areas for future investigation.
After an introduction and welcome by Dr Gwen Kennedy, the workshop commenced with an overview of ME and CFS by Dr Vance Spence, Chairman of ME Research UK. The morning was given over to vascular aspects of the illness, and the two major speakers were Prof. Jill Belch, head of the Vascular Diseases Research Unit, University of Dundee, and Prof. Julian Stewart, Department of Paediatrics, New York Medical College, USA, who had flown in specially to attend. The afternoon session dealt with cellular metabolism, and the main speakers were Prof. Kenny De Meirleir of the Department of Medicine, Vrje Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, and Prof. Grahame Hardie, School of Life Sciences, University of Dundee.
While it would be impossible to resolve the biomedical basis of ME and CFS in one day, the participants agreed that the meeting of minds in a basic science research workshop was a useful starting point for future endeavours.
To energise ME research, ME Research UK has funded and produced a comprehensive report of this one-day workshop. Download a copy here.
