Happy Holidays from everyone here at the JAX ME/CFS CRC! We wish peace, love, and happiness to all of the ME/CFS community and their loved ones.

We are counting our blessings from this past year, and are thankful for your constant participation and unending support of our scientific endeavors. We are working for a better world for patients suffering from ME/CFS, and are hopeful that 2018 will bring many new ideas and discovery, as well as a promise for a brighter tomorrow. May you find that the New Year brings you new inspiration, new achievements, and a whole lot of new happiness.

From us to you, Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year!

On November 28, the NIH held their third public telebriefing of 2017 to share new research with the ME/CFS community. The community heard an update from Dr. Avindra Nath about the NIH Intramural Study, who said that patients are currently being recruited to the study.  Dr. Derya Unutmaz also gave a background on how he became involved in studying ME/CFS and what drives his enthusiasm. Derya explained that his two major goals for the NIH CRC are to find the molecular biological correlates to link ME/CFS biology to its symptoms, and to understand the disease mechanisms.

Continue reading “NIH ME/CFS Telebriefing Review” →

“Jennifer Brea is an active Harvard PhD student about to marry the love of her life when suddenly her body starts failing her. Hoping to shed light on her strange symptoms, Jennifer grabs a camera and films the darkest moments unfolding before her eyes as she is derailed by [ME/CFS], a mysterious illness some still believe is ‘all in your head,’” (https://www.unrest.film).

JAX ME/CFS CRC collaborators and lab members held a private viewing of Unrest, a world-premiered documentary by Jennifer Brea from the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. Attendees hoped to better familiarize themselves with what ME/CFS symptoms actually look like, and how patients cope with them on a day-to-day basis. Brea’s portrayal of her own ME/CFS illness serves as striking evidence to the damage that this disease can cause, both to the patient as well as to their family.

Continue reading “UNREST Viewing by JAX CRC Members” →

“Over the past five years or so, Rituximab has been the great hope for the ME/CFS community. The anecdotal stories of dramatic recoveries were beyond enticing. A successful trial could ultimately have led to the first FDA-approved drug for ME/CFS and relief for many, a huge shift in how the disease is viewed, and surely more research funding.

That unfortunately is not to be. At a talk in Norway on Nov 21st, Dr. Mella revealed that the Rituximab trial that many laid their hopes on has failed. We don’t know and won’t know the details of the failure until the paper is published next year, and Drs. Fluge and Mella talk more about the study.  Dr. Mella said they provided the result so that ME/CFS patients won’t try the drug on their own…”

Read more at Simmaron Research