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Advert for virologist, Imperial College study

flex

Senior Member
Messages
304
Location
London area
I have just crossed checked the names and they do differ. The University College study must a different one. I apologise for any error, but it did look erroneous at first glance.

Maybe this is Dr. Kerr’s study, he is based at St. George's University of London. Maybe that is my confusion.

Don't expect that he or his influence wont be beind any London study. He influences the whole of the UK policy even from his "retirement" from ME/CFS.

Wouldn't it be ironic if Mclure won the post for the second London study after "applying" to the advert.
 

gracenote

All shall be well . . .
Messages
1,537
Location
Santa Rosa, CA
to measure XMRV load in CFS and seek strategy for treatment

Xenotropic murine retrovirus (XMRV) has recently been associated with chronic fatigue syndrome as well as prostate carcinoma in humans (1-3). XMRV is a murine endogenous virus found in the genome of mice and until recently has been thought to be absent from the human population. It is now becoming clear that XMRV has transmitted to humans by a process of zoonosis, presumably from mice, and appears to be associated with a variety of diseases not previously associated with viral infection.

1. We will establish quantitative PCR assays and serology assays including enzyme linked immunosorbant assays (ELISA) to detect and quantify XMRV. Importantly, assays used to detect related murine leukaemia viruses in the lab are expected to be suitable.

2. We will use these assays to measure XMRV load in chronic fatigue patient samples as well as, well but XMRV infected control samples, with a view to establishing whether viral load relates to disease, episodes of illness and/or severity.

3. The receptor for XMRV has been identified. We will seek human polymorphism in the xenotropic receptor and assess which human cells express it. We will also establish which cells in vivo in blood express the receptor and which cells are infected with XMRV by quantitative PCR on sorted subsets of B and T cells from XMRV infected individuals.

This project proposes to address some of the most important questions surrounding the recently described XMRV infection of humans and to seek a therapeutic strategy for XMRV treatment. We expect it to be a competitive project and the experiments performed are likely to be influenced by ongoing studies published as we go. We expect that the candidate will be fully trained in modern techniques of molecular virology during the course of this project.

The above highlights are what stand out for me. It seems to me that they are assuming that XMRV has some relationship to chronic fatigue syndrome and that part of their study is to to measure XMRV load in chronic fatigue patient samples and to seek a therapeutic strategy for XMRV treatment. In no way, does this sound to me like how the Imperial College study was set up. It actually sounds kind of encouraging. Should I be encouraged?
 
T

thefreeprisoner

Guest
Yes! Be encouraged!
I think this thread was kind of started in error, but without it, we wouldn't have had the 'Deny-me-Kwik' gem from Mark.
Big thumbs up to all.