BRMEC10 Colloquium 2021

Due to the pandemic this Colloquium was conducted using Zoom.

The European ME Research Group (EMERG) was tasked with producing an agenda appropriate for this environment and in order to move things on with research into ME while the pandemic limited in-person meetings.

We again had representation from National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), USA, Canada, Europe and Australasia.

In replacing the annual London event with a virtual event we used the different opportunities presented by this format to bring forward new ideas to stimulate discussions between researchers.
Every Colloquium has aimed to improve understanding, collaboration and cooperation.

With developments around research into Long Covid and with the similarities of some symptoms to those experienced by people with ME then this topic was also added to the agenda.

For BRMEC10 a new approach and a new format to the meeting was created in order to try to make a step-change in thinking and aid everyone researching ME. Working with Invest in ME Research the European ME Research Group (EMERG) were tasked with forming the agenda.

A number of hypotheses were proposed concerning ME - all leading back to the aetiology of the disease. This was augmented by referencing long covid. The hypotheses were discussed by researchers.

A paper from one of these sessions was published - 'What Causes ME/CFS: The Role of the Dysfunctional Immune System and Viral Infections' - Click here

The BRMEC10 Colloquium also gave rise to discussions on outcome measures for research into ME. Toegether with the NIH and the European ME Research Group a core group of researchers formed a working group to discuss outcome measures and this working group would meet after the colloquium.