A scientist at The Jackson Laboratory’s Connecticut research arm will get $3,281,515 over five years from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to find better ways to treat chronic fatigue system.
Dr. Derya Unutmaz, professor at The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine in Farmington, Conn., will focus on improving diagnostics and treatments for the syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis.
It is a debilitating and mysterious condition that has eight signs and symptoms, according to mayoclinic.org: fatigue, loss of memory or concentration, sore throat, enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or armpits, unexplained muscle pain, pain that moves from one joint to another without swelling or redness, headache of a new pattern or severity, unrefreshing sleep and extreme exhaustion lasting more than 24 hours after physical or mental exercise. The symptoms and their severity vary widely among patients.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that between 836,000 and 2.5 million Americans suffer from the symptoms.
Researchers have pointed to several potential environmental triggers and faulty immune system components associated with the syndrome. But they have had difficulty pinpointing what is wrong in the immune system.
Dr. Unutmaz plans to conduct a major study of patients with the syndrome, including screening blood samples to find potential immune system biomarkers (measurable indicators) of the disease, and use the results to develop better diagnostics and personalized treatments.
The $1.1 billion Connecticut research facility opened in October 2014 to focus on personalized medicine using genomics, which uses genetics and information technology to study people and other organisms. The facility is one of several that is part of The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor.
The Connecticut lab is in a 183,000-square-foot building at the University of Connecticut Health Center. It was funded in part by a $291 million Connecticut legislative act in 2011.
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