JOURNAL OF IIMER May 2026 field, and the role of collaborative international frameworks in moving ME research forward. Professor Gitendra Uswatte of the University of Alabama at Birmingham will present preliminary findings from cognitive rehabilitation trials in adults with postviral syndromes. Brain fog is one of the most common and disabling symptoms reported by ME patients, yet it has received comparatively little attention as a target for intervention. His work explores whether targeted rehabilitation approaches can produce measurable improvements in cognitive function in this population. Associate Professor Rikke Katrine Jentoft Olsen of Aarhus University, who also moderates the Metabolism session at BRMEC15, will present on a randomised controlled trial examining hypoxia-induced mitochondrial stress-signalling in ME. This represents one of the most direct attempts yet to test and potentially intervene in the metabolic dysfunction that may lie at the heart of ME pathogenesis. Dr Caroline Dalton of Sheffield Hallam University will present on harnessing wearable data in ME research and trials - addressing both the potential of digital tools to capture the complexity of ME in ways that conventional clinical assessments cannot, and their role in supporting more rigorous and sensitive outcome measurement in clinical trials. The remainder of the IIMEC18 conference day will have the following presentations - Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber - Associate Professor of Pathophysiology and Allergy Research at the Medical University of Vienna, and a member of EMERG, presents on emerging research for the discovery of ME mechanisms, with a focus on the DISCOVER-ME project. Her background spans immunology, gastrointestinal immunology, and allergy research, and she leads the Department of Pathophysiology and Allergy's gastrointestinal immunology group. As a lead and co-investigator in the DISCOVER-ME consortium, she brings expertise in immune mechanisms to the pan-European effort to identify biological markers and disease subtypes in ME. Douglas D. Fraser - Professor and Clinician Scientist in Paediatric Critical Care at Western University in London, Ontario, presents on a global platform trial of repurposed drugs for long COVID. Director of the Translational Research Centre - a human tissue biobank with over fifteen years of operation - Professor Fraser leads two international multicentred long COVID research programmes examining sub-phenotypes and outcomes, and has extensive experience in profiling post-COVID patients for immune and proteomic changes. Invest in ME Research Page 31 of 35
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