ME Research UK-funded project updates
Dr Sarah Annesley at La Trobe University has updated us on her ME Research UK-funded study looking at changes in microRNA profiles in platelets from women with ME/CFS. The team has recruited more than half of their planned participants, collected and processed blood samples from them, and optimised the methods they will use to analyse the platelets. They now plan to finish recruitment and start their analyses.
Tina Katsaros, a PhD student at La Trobe University, Australia, has successfully completed the laboratory phase of her ME Research UK-funded PhD-level research, which investigates the role of mTORC1 in ME/CFS.
mTORC1 is a regulator of various cell processes in the body including the production and breakdown of protein, cell growth, and energy utilisation within the body. Importantly, dysregulation of the pathway mTORC1 controls (the mTOR pathway) has been linked to ageing, and to diseases including cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, and diabetes.
In other news, congratulations to Gemma Samms, who is carrying out ME Research UK-funded PhD-level research at the University of Edinburgh. She has now submitted her thesis and is awaiting the oral examination, known as a viva, in which the student defends their work and demonstrates their knowledge of the field.
Gemma has also been included in Edinburgh University’s 300 Faces of Edinburgh Medical School for her work in ME/CFS.
Fundraisers – Thank you!
At ME Research UK we are blessed with so many incredible fundraisers. One of these is Rachel Carey who, together with her husband and daughter Richard and Megan, walked 500 miles in May in support of ME Awareness Month.
She says: “My daughter Amy, aged 16, lives with ME/CFS and our motivation is the hope that one day she will have treatment that results in her being able to live life to the full without having to compromise in order to cope.”
Thank you Rachel, Richard, and Megan – we wish Amy the best.
We are supported by so many incredible people. Two of these are Joanna and Mark. Mark lives with ME/CFS and, for a long time, the couple felt they were facing the disease alone.
“We didn’t even know there was research going on until I found ME Research UK on Facebook,” Joanna explains. “We had felt so isolated… But this shows me that we are not alone – and something is being done to learn more.”
Inspired by that discovery, Joanna signed up for Walk for ME and raised £500! Details on how to do your own Walk For ME.
Gary Shorrock took on one of Britain’s most demanding endurance challenges for a fundraiser co-organised by his brother, Steven, who was diagnosed with ME/CFS in 2025.
We can report that he smashed it, conquering 42 of the highest peaks in the Lake District within 24 hours! Over £6,000 was raised for ME Research UK – thank you to Gary and to everyone who supported his journey.
Huge thanks to the staff at The Recruitment Crowd who took part in a bushtucker trial in aid of ME Research UK and special congratulations to the eventual winner – Conall. Together the team raised over £1,500 for ME Research UK!
Articles
Markers in cerebrospinal fluid linked with ME/CFS disease heterogeneity
Researchers including Dr Bo Bertilson, funded by ME Research UK alongside the Open Medicine Foundation and the Amar Foundation, have identified that protein signatures in cerebrospinal fluid differ between groups of people with ME/CFS.
Do ME/CFS symptoms cluster in distinct patterns?
Researchers hypothesised that ME/CFS symptoms would cluster together in predictable patterns according to distinctive disease processes. The logic is straightforward: if an individual with ME/CFS experiences one symptom, they should be statistically more likely to experience other symptoms within the same cluster, suggesting common underlying disease processes.
Other topics explored in June include blood plasma analysis, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, and chronic stress, brain fog and the Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis.
Movement for Good – jackpot winner!
Great news! ME Research UK has won £5,000 in Benefact Group Movement for Good’s Health & Wellbeing special draw. Every penny will be invested in our research work. A huge thank you to everyone who nominated us.
Big Give Christmas Challenge 2026 – Help us – Become a Pledger Today
Last year, ME Research UK participated in The Big Give Christmas Challenge and raised over £38,000 of much-needed funds to invest in ME research globally.
This year we would like to increase the amount of research we can fund by raising even more through The Big Give. Read more about how to become a pledger.
Help us make the breakthrough
We know that, as a subscriber to our newsletter and someone who is interested in our work, you join us in the belief that only robust scientific research is the key to understanding ME/CFS.
Donations from our valued supporters are vital if we are to continue our work to inform, influence and invest in ME/CFS research globally.
