insidestory.com.au, 24 Nov 2016: In Melbourne, progress on chronic fatigue

Peter Clarke talks to Bio21 researcher Chris Armstrong about new research that challenges popular views of this enigmatic illness

With its debiliating symptoms – fatigue, “brain fog,” pain, gastrointestinal disorders – and its elusive causes, chronic fatigue syndrome has been one of the great unsolved medical mysteries. Now, a growing number of research teams around the world are tackling the challenge of diagnosing and treating the illness using new medical research techniques.

By looking at patients’ genetics and the changing pattern of their metabolites – the molecules produced by their individual metabolisms – these researchers have made enormous progress in uncovering patterns exclusive to the condition and countering once-popular psychological explanations.

Among the research centres working on CFS (also known as myalgic encephalomyoletis) is the Bio21 Institute at the University of Melbourne. Earlier this month, amid the centrifuges, mass spectrometers and NMR cylinders used to identify shifts in biological material, Peter Clarke spoke to Bio21 researcher Chris Armstrong.

The Institute’s work is supported by the Mason Foundation, with assistance for NMR equipment from the Australian Research Council.

Read more and listen to podcast. Duration: 24 mins 11 secs

PETER CLARKE
Peter Clarke is a Melbourne-based broadcaster, writer and educator who pioneered national talkback on Australian radio as the inaugural presenter of Offspring (now Life Matters) on ABC Radio National.

Article on Chris Armstrong by Cort Johnson

University of Melbourne blog post, by Florienne Loder, University of Melbourne: Chronic fatigue syndrome a kick in the guts,

Research suggests that chronic fatigue is linked to gut bacteria and how our bodies convert food into energy