Solve is proud to award research funds to Dr. Geraldine Cambridge and Dr. Dana Yelin, two world-class scientists who are finding new ways to treat people with Long Covid and ME/CFS.
Dr. Geraldine “Jo” Cambridge is an emeritus professor of rheumatology and inflammation at the University College London (UK). She specializes in developing and improving therapies that target B cells, which are antibody-producing immune cells. In earlier work, Dr. Cambridge discovered biomarkers that predict which people with rheumatoid arthritis will respond to rituximab, a drug that lowers B-cell levels.
In 2016, Dr. Cambridge won a Ramsay Research Grant to study B cells in people with ME/CFS. For her Ramsay Project—“Metabolic Analysis of B-cell Maturation in ME/CFS”—she studied how ME/CFS affects metabolism in B cells as they progress from immature cells into mature ones. She found that in people with ME/CFS, immature B cells express too much of a protein called CD24. These cells had less mitochondrial mass, used energy inefficiently, and more often succumbed to immunological attacks. Dr. Cambridge published that work in Frontiers in Immunology (see here and here). This work matters to patients because it suggests that treatments that help immature B cells use energy efficiently and survive immunological attacks may help people with ME/CFS.
Since winning her Ramsay Grant, Dr. Cambridge won over $80,000 from ME Research UK to determine how antibody patterns predict ME/CFS–symptom severity. Now, Solve M.E. is proud to award Dr. Cambridge a new Ramsay Research Grant for 2025.
Dr. Dana Yelin is an infectious disease doctor and head of the Long Covid research team at the Sheba Medical Center (Israel). There, she led early efforts to treat people with COVID and spearheaded guidelines to diagnose and treat people with Long Covid.
In 2022, Solve M.E. awarded Dr. Yelin a Ramsay Research Grant to study how much enhanced external counterpulsation reduces fatigue and improves the quality of life for people with Long Covid. For this therapy, air pressure squeezes cuffs fitted around the legs to help circulate blood back to the heart. This work matters to people with ME/CFS because enhanced external counterpulsation reduces dyspnea and fatigue in people with other diseases (like heart or kidney failure or lung disease) and is approved by the FDA for treating people with chronic chest pain.
Dr. Yelin also launched a clinical trial (the Enhanced External Counterpulsation to Treat Long COVID-19 Fatigue (EXPECT)) to develop this treatment for people with Long Covid.
After a rigorous review of Dr. Yelin’s progress, Solve greenlit the second half of her Ramsay Award project, “Enhanced External Counterpulsation (EECP), Non-invasive Approach to Treat Long Covid Fatigue.” This funding expresses Solve’s continued enthusiasm and support for her research.
Congratulations to Dr. Cambridge and Dr. Yelin!
