Meet the Scientists

‘Meet the Scientists’ is a series of interviews with researchers working on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and/or chronic fatigue syndrome. Hear about current research directly from scientists and meet the people doing such important work to improve our health.

The series will introduce early career researchers through to interviewing scientists and clinicians who have been working on the problems for decades.

Dr Ashish Sethi

Dr Ashish Sethi is a structural biologist and postdoctoral research fellow in biochemistry and molecular biology at Bio21 Molecular Science & Biotechnology Institute, at the University of Melbourne….

Dr Kiran Thapaliya

The number of times patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome have been dismissed as having a psychosomatic illness or worse still, a non-existent one, is something most experience at some stage. Without a biomarker, people have had a hard time being taken seriously. Finding a biomarker is a goal of Dr Kiran Thapalia from Queensland’s National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED) at Griffith University…..

Chelsea Bartlett and ACU team

Chelsea Bartlett (Occupational Therapy honours degree student), and supervisors Julie Hughes (Occupational Therapist) and Dr Laura Miller (Occupational Therapist) are a team from Australian Catholic University (ACU). They are working together on a research project titled: Living with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Experiences of occupational disruption for adults in Australia…

Dr Christopher Armstrong

Dr Christopher Armstrong is an Australian scientist researching Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). He moved to California late last year to take up a position at the Open Medicine Foundation….

Prof Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik

Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik is the co-director of the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED) at Australia’s Griffith University, along with Prof Don Staines, and they have been working in the field of chronic fatigue syndrome and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis for nine years…

Dr Neil McGregor

Meet Dr Neil McGregor PhD from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He recently published Metabolic profiling reveals anomalous energy metabolism and oxidative stress pathways in chronic fatigue syndrome patients (summary here: Australian metabolomics study of young women) and Widespread pain and renal function in ME/CFS patients…

Fane Mensah

Fane Mensah is a scientist specialising in infection and immunity at the University College London. Fane recently came to Australia to work alongside Chris Armstrong at Bio 21, Melbourne University …

Prof Don Staines

Professor Don Staines is co-director of the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED) at Australia’s Griffith University, with Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik…

Dr Sarah Knight

Meet Dr Sarah Knight from Murdoch Childrens Research Institute at The Royal Children’s Hospital in the University of Melbourne, Australia…

Dr Brett Lidbury

Meet Dr Brett Lidbury, biometrics researcher at the Australian National University in Canberra. He shares with us what he’s working on, how curiosity has driven his work and how proud he is to be part of Australia’s CFS and ME research community, working to find treatments for patients…

Dr Michael Musker

Dr Michael Musker has 30 years’ experience in mental health nursing and published work in mental health and nursing. He then completed a PhD in Medicine with Adelaide University…

Rhiannon Morris

Rhiannon Morris is from Melbourne’s The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) which is the oldest research institute in Australia. While WEHI don’t directly research ME or CFS, their fields of research impact many diseases and contribute to scientific knowledge…

Dr Elisha Josev

Meet Dr Elisha Josev, an early career clinician-researcher at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Royal Children’s Hospital. Dr Josev works with Dr Sarah Knight and consults with the families of children with ME while designing research to improve quality of care and outcomes for these patients…

Dr Alice Richardson

Dr Alice Richardson is a biostatistician at the Australian National University’s National Centre for Epidemiology & Population Health in Canberra, Australia…

Dr Ranjit Menon

Dr Ranjit Menon, consultant psychiatrist, is the principal investigator. Dr Menon says that new research, ‘Metabolic features of chronic fatigue syndrome’ by Robert Nauviaux et al, supports the metabolic dysfunction hypothesis and adds further credence to mitochondrial promoters…