Ron Davis’ group at Stanford University recently published a small-scale, yet promising study where they developed a new blood test that they hope can be used in the future as a cost-effective diagnostic tool for ME/CFS. Using a nanoelectronic assay, they were able to identify all 20 ME/CFS patients in their study as having ME/CFS, and had no false positives in their 20 healthy controls. A feature article by Ryan Prior about Ron Davis on CNN highlights this new study while also providing an in-depth look into Davis’ day-to-day life alongside his wife Janet Dafoe, in caring for their son Whitney, who has severe ME/CFS.

Davis has led a long and successful career. After completing his post-doc at Harvard University under Nobel Laureate James Watson, his lab became a large force behind the technology that powered the Human Genome Project. Now, Davis devotes all of his time and research to solving the puzzle that is ME/CFS. In addition to searching for biomarkers in patients’ blood for diagnostic purposes, Davis is also building a team of renowned scientists to find the molecular basis for ME/CFS.

A large hurdle to solving ME/CFS is awareness of the disease. There is very little funding available to dedicate to research. Advocacy continues to be very important to generating new interest in ME/CFS, and much more research is needed to make real progress in the field. This new CNN feature article brings great awareness for the disease, and will hopefully inspire even more progress.

To read the full CNN article, click here.