New Horizons 2008 — International Conference on ME/CFS Biomedical Research
Hosted and sponsored jointly by ME Research UK, and the Irish ME Trust (external link), the New Horizons 2008: International Conference on ME/CFS Biomedical Research will take place on Tuesday 6th May 2008 at the Wellcome Trust Conference Centre (external link), Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, UK, which can cater for up to 300 delegates and is within easy reach of Cambridge, the M11 and London Stansted Airport.
Download location maps here (pdf 1,197 KB).
Building on the success of last year’s New Horizons conference held at the Edinburgh Conference Centre, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh (read the report here, we hope that the day will be of interest to a wide range of professionals, patients and observers. As ME/CFS biomedical research is very varied, spanning many scientific disciplines and involving a wide range of healthcare professionals, this research conference will provide the opportunity for researchers and healthcare professionals within ME/CFS to present their latest work, share ideas and identify key challenges for the future. The full day’s programme will consist mainly of invited keynote lectures, with poster presentions describing specific studies. At present, the outline for the day includes presentations by:
- Dr Vance Spence (Chairman, ME Research UK)
- Prof. Nancy Klimas (University of Miami School of Medicine, Florida, USA)
- Dr Stephen Graves (Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory, NSW, Australia)
- Dr Gavin Spickett (Consultant Clinical Immunologist and Clinical Champion for the Northern Clinical Network Co-ordinating Centre (CFS/ME) Service, Newcastle Primary Care Trust, Newcastle upon Tyne)
- Dr Julia Newton (Senior Lecturer, Institute of Cellular Medicine, Newcastle University)
- Prof. Birgitta Evengard (Department of Infectious Diseases, Umeå University, Sweden)
- Dr Jonathan Kerr (Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, St George’s University of London)
- Dr Byron Hyde (Nightingale Research Foundation, Ottawa, Canada)
- Dr Faisel Khan (Vascular and Inflammatory Diseases Research Unit, University Department of Medicine, Dundee)
- Dr Derek Enlander (Mount Sinai Medical School and New York ME/CFS Center, New York, USA)
- Dr Dan Peterson (Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease, University of Nevada School of Medicine, USA)
Download the full conference agenda (pdf 125 KB).
The Wellcome Trust Conference Centre is an outstanding custom-designed venue, offering world-class facilities for conferences of all kinds, meetings and courses which attract the world’s leading scientists to debate issues at the forefront of new scientific discovery. Set in the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus, home to some of the world’s leading genome and bioinformatics research institutes, this is less science park than country retreat, and Hinxton Hall is an elegant Grade II-listed country house set in 55 acres of parkland on the banks of the river Cam.
Registration will be from 8.30 am, with a 9.00 am start and an expected finish of 5.00 pm. The registration fee is £145 for professionals, and £60 for patients, ME support group representatives and students. Included in the registration fee are a finger buffet lunch, and morning and afternoon coffee/tea breaks, served on-site. CPD accreditation (5 hours credit for the day) will be available.
For accommodation, the Cambridge Tourist Board website (external link) gives a wide range of options in the area. Reasonably priced hotels include the Travelodge Cambridge Fourwentways Hotel which is about 4 km from Hinxton, and the Travelodge Cambridge Central Hotel which is 7 km away.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accreditation (5 credits) has been arranged for this conference, and further specific details can be found at the Royal College of Physicians website (external link).
The conference is registered with the Research and Development Learning (external link) database of health-related research training courses.
You can register and pay for the confence by post, or over the telephone:
- By post, please download a conference flyer and registration form (pdf 178 KB), and send it with your credit/debit card details — or enclosing a cheque (made out to ME Research UK) — to Priscilla Wares at the ME Research UK address, including your name, address, telephone number and e-mail address.
- By telephone, please call us on 01738 451234 between 9.00 am and 4.30 pm, Monday to Friday, with your credit/debit card details. We can accept payment by Delta, Mastercard, Switch and Visa cards.
