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ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

1) In this interview with David Tuller, Prof. Chris Ponting gave more info about the SequenceME & Long Covid project that received £4.75 million from the UK government. It will measure the whole genome of ME/CFS patients in high resolution so that rare mutations can be found.

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ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

2) The project will use the Oxford Nanopore Technology. It will read 3 billion DNA letters per person as they go through a minuscule opening (a nanopore) one by one. They plan to do 30 readouts per person on average to reduce errors.

ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

3) DecodeME answered two broad questions: - Is ME/CFS genetic? Does it have a genetic predisposition? The answer is yes. - What physiological system is most affected? Turns out it's the nervous system.

ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

4) The question for SequenceME is: Are there genes that are commonly broken in people with ME/CFS that increase the risk of the disease? Answering this question will provide stronger evidence that may help to identify different types of ME/CFS and targeted treatments.

ME/CFS Science
@mecfsscience.org

5) It's an expensive technology, so they're doing it in phases. Phase I was setting up the project; Phase II plans to analyse 6000 ME/CFS samples from DecodeME. The government money was only on consumables, not on people. Luckily, the WE&ME Foundation gave funding for this.