Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, has received a new $9.5 million grant from the NIH (National Institutes of Health) for its multidisciplinary center, Center for Ennervating Neuroimmune Disease, which was established in 2107 to study ME/CFS. You can read all the details of how this new grant will be used in this article.
The center is run by Dr. Maureen Hanson, a longtime ME/CFS researcher who has played an important role in studying the mysterious exercise intolerance at the heart of the disease. Well-known ME/CFS clinician Dr. Susan Levine will help the studies by diagnosing patients in her NYC practice who may participate in the studies.
The grant will be used for three main research studies, all focused on gene expression that can help to characterize the disease and understand it better:
- Analyze gene expression in muscle biopsies, using new technology, and looking at RNA in the cells.
- Study RNA released into blood plasma when cells die, both before and after exercise, to study post-exertional malaise and differentiate between people with ME/CFS and healthy controls.
- Characterize gene expression in monocytes (a type of immune cell) and platelets in ME/CFS and controls to identify differences in the immune and circulatory systems. Previous work in the center identified abnormalities in these two cell types.
These are all excellent areas for further study. The better that scientists can characterize ME/CFS based on gene expression, the better they will understand exactly what is happening in our bodies. This will hopefully lead to specific ways to both diagnose the disease and treat it effectively.
The full summary about the center and its use of the grant money can be read here.
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