MEA Ramsay Research Fund to fund new research into the role of transcription factors in ME/CFS

by tonybritton on March 31, 2011:

The ME Association is very pleased to announce that trustees have approved funding for an important new research study that will be investigating the role of what are called transcription factors in ME/CFS.

The research, which has been thoroughly peer reviewed over the past two months, will be carried out by Dr Abhijit Chaudhuri, Professor Peter Behan, Professor John Gow, Professor Chris Hillier, and Simone Hutchinson at Glasgow Caledonian University.

Dr Abhijit Chaudhuri and Professor Peter Behan are neurologists with an impressive clinical and research involvement in relation to ME/CFS. Professor John Gow has carried out extensive research into the virology of ME/CFS (enteroviral infection in particular) as well as the role of gene expression in ME/CFS: www.meassociation.org.uk/?p=642

Professor Chris Hillier, who is Professor of Physiology at GCU, is a leading expert in disease mechanisms at a cellular and molecular level in cardiovascular, metabolic and genetic disease, and brings fresh thinking in the area of biotechnology to the ME/CFS research agenda. Simone Hutchinson will be the research assistant on the project.

Transcription factors are complicated proteins that act at a cellular level. They are released in a cascade fashion following harmful stimuli such as infections, trauma, exposure to toxins and drugs and form a key part of the body’s initial defensive response. They also help to regulate gene expression – in simple terms they assist in the process of ‘switching on’ genes and the activities they control. Read more>>