Genetics Centre of Excellence: update on recent research

We’re hosting a webinar to share the latest updates from research linked to our Genetics Centre of Excellence.

Don't miss this chance to hear directly from the scientists leading important discoveries and to participate in an engaging Q&A session with patient and public representatives.

Date: Thursday 6 June

Time: 2pm to 3pm

The session will be chaired by our Chief Executive, Sonya Chowdhury. It will include two presentations followed by a Q&A with scientists and Public and Patient Involvement representatives.

Speakers and topics

Dr Audrey Ryback

Audrey is a Research Fellow working under Professor Chris Ponting at the University of Edinburgh. She holds the first Clare Francis Postdoctoral Fellowship awarded by Action for ME.

 Audrey will provide an update on two projects:

• Exploring whether blood factors from ME/CFS patients change the behaviour of healthy cells in the lab.
• CountME, a collaborative project she is working on with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh to leverage longitudinal electronic healthcare records from pwME/CFS to understand the epidemiology and lifelong impact of ME/CFS.

PrecisionLife team

Steve Gardner (CEO), Jason Sardell (VP, Population Genetics), and Krystyna Taylor (VP, Portfolio Strategy) will present new findings from their ME and long Covid research, including results from the LOCOME project (delivered in partnership with Action for ME and the University of Edinburgh). Topics will cover:

• 14 new genes linked to ME/CFS and 73 linked to long Covid - many of which are shared between conditions, hinting at common underlying mechanisms
• How genetic research is helping to develop faster, non-invasive tests, can improve risk prediction and personalised treatments, and help find promising leads for drug repurposing
• Protective genes and what they could mean for future drug development and vaccines
• Next steps: preview of planned publications and clinical trials

Q&A session

The webinar will end with a live Q&A, featuring our speakers and Public and Patient representatives, including Helen Baxter (PPI representative for the LOCOME project and the Genetics Centre of Excellence Partnership Board)

How to register

Register now and secure a place by clicking this link.

Submit a question

To send a question in advance, please email: research@actionforme.org.uk

What if I cannot attend?

To ensure everyone can hear the exciting updates and presentations, we will share a recording and presentation slides after the event.

You will be able to find this on our website and across our social media channels.

About the Genetics Centre of Excellence

Who are we?

The Genetics Centre of Excellence is a network overseen by the Genetics Centre of Excellence Partnership Board, co-chaired by our CEO, Sonya Chowdhury at Action for ME, and Prof. Chris Ponting at the University of Edinburgh. The Partnership Board is composed of individuals with lived experience and researchers from various specialties.

What do we do?

Our main activities include:

• Sharing updates on ongoing ME research with the wider ME community
• Advocating for a strategic approach to ME research funding and identifying new funding opportunities
• Strengthening collaboration among genetics researchers, ME researchers from other disciplines, and across career stages
• Creating opportunities for joint research, including partnerships with experts from other fields or disease areas
• Ensuring research quality and meaningful involvement of people with lived experience in ongoing projects