The Quadram Institute, at Norwich Research Park, is going to have a key role to play in a consortium led by the European ME Research Group (EMERG) looking at Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).
The consortium has secured ground-breaking funding from the EU Horizon programme to support this major pan-European research project to the tune of approximately €7.6m. Around €1.1m has been assigned to the Quadram Institute for its contribution to the project.
This funding represents a significant advance in coordinated international biomedical research into ME following more than a decade of collaborative infrastructure development across Europe.
The EU Horizon-funded project will bring together researchers, clinicians and patient partners from more than 20 institutions across Europe and Canada to drive large-scale mechanistic studies into ME. It aims to develop the biological evidence and mechanism-based disease classification to improve the diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of ME.
The research is being led by Professor Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber at the Medical University of Vienna, with Professor Simon Carding from the Quadram Institute and University of East Anglia as co-lead.
The newly-funded project will use standardised clinical and laboratory methods across multiple European biobanks and research sites, helping to identify and validate biomarkers across genetic, immune, metabolic, neuroendocrine and vascular domains. The outputs are expected to underpin future biomarker-guided clinical trials and precision approaches to drug repurposing and therapeutic development.
Prof Untersmayr-Elsenhuber said, “We aim to systematically map the biological basis of the ME and translate this into a clinically applicable concept. Our goal is to be able to offer patients a confirmed diagnosis at an earlier stage in future, along with treatment options tailored to their individual disease mechanisms.”
Patient and public involvement is embedded in the research design, ensuring lived experience informs phenotyping tools, stratification frameworks, policy recommendations and other outputs.
Prof Carding, said, “This EU Horizon grant is a very welcome milestone in ME research and will, for the first time, provide the support needed to develop collaborative, multidisciplinary research across Europe for the benefit of patients.”
The EU Horizon award aligns with broader efforts to integrate ME research into mainstream European biomedical research frameworks, strengthening collaborative capacity across national and disciplinary boundaries.
Roz Bird, CEO of Anglia Innovation Partnership, the campus management company for Norwich Research Park said, “Norwich Research Park’s reputation is built on the ground-breaking research conducted here and willingness to collaborate across the world with other research organisations in pursuit of solving some of the many challenges we face in human health. The Quadram Institute’s involvement in this high-profile, consortium-led, project is a really great example of this way of working. It is fantastic that this project has received a significant amount of funding to combat such a debilitating condition affecting many people around the world.”
