Spend a day soaking up the ME/CFS research news | Newcastle, Tuesday 4 November 2014

October 10, 2014


Gosforth map

ME North East and the ME Association invite you to a day conference on ME/CFS research in the North of England. It will be held at Gosforth Civic Hall, near Newcastle, on Tuesday November 4, and places are being taken up fast.info@menortheast.org or by completing and returning the registration form that can be downloaded HERE.


PROGRAMME DETAILS


10.30-11.00 Registration (tea and coffee)

11.00-11.10 Welcome

11.10-11.30 DR ZOE GOTTS, NORTHUMBRIA CENTRE FOR SLEEP RESEARCH: “SLEEP IN ME/CFS”

Zoe recently completed her PhD at Northumbria University, with Professor Jason Ellis and Dr Vincent Deary. This PhD was funded by Action for ME and has generated interesting sand important work demonstrating sleep abnormalities in those with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Currently Zoe is working in the Fatigue CRESTA Clinic, in the Campus and Ageing and Vitality. She is a member of the UK ME/CFS Research Collaborative.

11.30-11.50 PROFESSOR FAI NG, INSTITUTE OF CELLULAR MEDICINE, NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY: “A SEARCH FOR BIOLOGICAL BASIS OF FATIGUE”

Professor Ng's work focuses on understanding the relationship between biological abnormalities and clinical features in primary Sjogren's syndrome – in particular, the development of lymphoma and chronic fatigue. By identifying the specific biological changes that are characteristically found in patients with chronic fatigue, it will help us to develop better diagnostic tests as well as new treatments.

11.50-12.10 PROFESSOR STEPHEN TODRYK, FACULTY OF HEALTH AND LIFE SCIENCES, NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY: “THE IMMUNE SYSTEM IN ME”

Stephen joined Northumbria University in 2007, where he has climbed the ranks to Professor of Immunology. Before that. he ran labs in Oxford and Dublin working on immune responses against infections and tumours. He is particularly interested in T cells and antibodies. Stephen’s first degree was in Biology from Aston University, Birmingham and his PhD was at Guys Hospital in London.

12.10-12.30 VICTORIA STRASSHEIM, CRESTA CHRONIC FATIGUE CLINIC, THE CENTRE FOR AGEING AND VITALITY, NEWCASTLE: “SEVERELY AFFECTED CHRONIC FATIGUE CLIENTS”

Victoria is a Physiotherapist working at the CRESTA Fatigue Clinic under Professor Julia Newton. We will be investigating those severely affected and assessing patients within their own homes. My experience to date had been predominantly Neurological work within the acute setting.


12.20-12.45 PROFESSOR JULIA NEWTON AND TEAM Q&A


1.30-1.50 DR SARAH JANE BOULTON, INSTITUTE OF CELLULAR MEDICINE, NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY: “NEW TECHNOLOGIES FOR INVESTIGATING METABOLISM AND MITOCHONDRIAL FUNCTION IN ME/CFS PATIENTS' SAMPLES”

This project is based around the development of a new method for investigating metabolic variances at a mitochondrial level in muscle samples from CFS patients. Why mitochondrial analysis may be important to a disease state characterised by fatigue and the barriers to rolling out testing on a wide scale. The technology that Dr Boulton is working on may potentially reduce the requirement for diagnostic tissue 20-fold. It might pave the way for a reliable marker of patient progress and therapeutic management.

1.50-2.10 DR JUSTIN DURHAM, NIHR CLINICIAN SCIENTIST AND SENIOR LECTURER IN OROFACIAL PAIN, NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY: ‘PERSISTENT FACIAL PAIN AND M.E.”

Dr Durham's specific interest in ME is the co-occurrence of persistent facial pain (excluding toothache) and headache. What types of facial pain and headache occur in ME, and those same types of pain in someone without ME (for instance persistent facial pain linked to the autonomic nervous system) and whether the routine management, when it presents, should be changed?

2.10-2.30 DR ANDREAS FINKELMEYER, INSTITUTE OF NEUROSCIENCES, NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY: “HOW CAN MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING HELP TO STUDY AUTONOMIC DYSFUNCTION IN ME/CFS?”

ME/CFS is associated with physiological abnormalities in the autonomic nervous system in a vast majority of patient – specifically in relation to the regulation of heart rate and blood pressure. However, the mechanisms behind these autonomic dysfunctions and some of their potential consequences are still largely unknown. Dr Finkelmeyer will discuss how we are using magnetic resonance imaging techniques to better understand the role of autonomic dysfunction on ME/CFS.

2.30-2.50 DR STUART WATSON, SENIOR LECTURER, INSTITUE OF NEUROSCIENCES, NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY: “THE STRESS HORMONE AND IMMUNE SYSTEMS IN ME/CFS”

We still don’t really understand the role that the regulation of our stress hormone system plays in the cause and maintenance of CFS/ME. Together with a team (led by Prof Julia Newton) Dr Watson has been examining stress hormone and the immune system (which is influenced by and influences the stress system) in people with CFS/ME. The team is busy scrutinising our results and excited at the prospect of presenting these, hot off the press, at the regional conference.


2.50-3.30 PROFESSOR JULIA NEWTON AND TEAM Q&A


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