ME Association: DecodeME

Below, our feature charity for February and March, ME Association, have shared one of the projects they are supporting. Read on to see how they are aiming to create the world’s biggest study of the causes of ME/CFS.

DecodeME

We’re proud to be supporting DecodeME, a gene sequencing project which aims to build a complete picture of the DNA of thousands of people with ME/CFS. Over 20,000 people have volunteered to take part so far and the first blood samples will be collected later in 2021.

This isn’t elite science dreamed up in a world of ivory towers. People with ME/CFS have been actively involved in developing DecodeME from its beginnings and the co-investigators include someone with the illness and a carer.

Funding for the £3.2million project has been provided by the Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research. It is being led by Professor Chris Ponting, an MRC-supported geneticist at the University of Edinburgh.

In an age of big data, people round the world are expecting variations in genetic code sequences to give us the reasons why so many illnesses remain so difficult to cure – and the power to suggest the answers, even down to medicine made just for you.

This is what DecodeME aims to do for ME/CFS.  The UK has 40% of the world’s gene sequencing capacity. DecodeME will be using just a fraction of it to work on our behalf.

It’s powerful, ambitious stuff! The ME Association encourages everyone with this illness to take part.

For more information and to register your interest, please visit: https://www.decodeme.org.uk/

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