International ME/CFS Conference 2025
Agenda
12.05.2025 - Monday (Day 1)
Introduction
Chairs
Carmen Scheibenbogen, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
David Putrino, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
10:00
5 min
Welcome
Carmen Scheibenbogen, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
10:05
20 min
The pandemic: What have we learned about post-acute infection syndromes (PAIS)?
David Putrino, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
10:25
20 min
The pandemic and ME/CFS: What have we learned? Where have we made progress?
Carmen Scheibenbogen, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
Care for ME/CFS
Chairs
Uta Behrends, Technical University of Munich (TUM) Hospital and Munich Schwabing Clinic, Germany
Kristian Sommerfelt, University of Bergen, Norway
10:45
15 min
PEDNET-LC: A pediatric network for healthcare and research on PCS, similar PAIS, Post-VAC, and ME/CFS
Uta Behrends, Technical University of Munich (TUM) Hospital and Munich Schwabing Clinic, Germany
11:00
15 min
The Austrian National Reference Center for Postviral Syndromes
Kathryn Hoffmann, Medical University of Vienna, Austria
11:15
15 min
The Akureyri Clinic: A national ME/CFS clinic
Fridbjörn Sigurdsson, Landspitali - University Hospital, Reykjavik, Iceland
11:30
15 min
CFS_CARE: Charité health care and rehabilitation study for ME/CFS
Claudia Kedor, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
11:45
15 min
Clinical care for ME/CFS
Michael Stingl, Dr. Michael Stingl Private Practice, Austria
12:00
15 min
Off-label drugs for ME/CFS and PCS in Germany
Bernhard Wörmann, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
12:15
15 min
The situation of very severely ill ME/CFS patients
Kristian Sommerfelt, University of Bergen, Norway
Posters
Chairs
Martina Seifert, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
Wolfram Döhner, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
12:30
30 min
Selected poster presentations (5x5 min)
13:00
75 min
Posters & Exchange & Lunch
Understanding I: Cardiovascular dysregulation and mitochondrial pathology
Chairs
Klaus Wirth, Mitodicure GmbH, Germany
David Systrom, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
14:15
15 min
Circulatory dysfunction in ME/CFS
David Systrom, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
14:30
15 min
Skeletal muscle alterations in PCS and ME/CFS
Rob Wust, Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Netherlands
14:45
15 min
Muscle mitochondria in ME/CFS and PCS
Jürgen Steinacker, University Clinic Ulm, Germany
15:00
15 min
Mechanisms of Post-Exertional Malaise (PEM)
Christian Puta, University of Jena, Germany
15:15
15 min
Metabolomics and cellular energy supply in ME/CFS
Karl Johan Tronstad, University of Bergen, Norway
15:30
45 min
Posters & Coffee
Understanding II: Immune dysregulation and autoimmunity
Chairs
Gabriela Riemekasten, University of Lübeck, Germany
Yehuda Shoenfeld, Tel Aviv University, Israel
16:15
20 min
Transfer of IgG from PCS patients induces symptomology in mice
Jeroen den Dunnen, Amsterdam University Medical Center (UMC), Netherlands
16:35
20 min
GPCR autoantibodies in ME/CFS and brain alterations
Takashi Yamamura, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan
16:55
15 min
Autoantibodies mimicking EBV sequences in ME/CFS and PCS
Franziska Sotzny, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
17:10
15 min
Autoantibodies to neuronal antigens in ME/CFS and PCS
Christiana Franke, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
17:25
15 min
Autoreactive B cells in ME/CFS
Birgit Sawitzki, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
17:40
15 min
Transcriptome analysis identifies immune dysregulation in peripheral immune cells of ME/CFS patients
Anna Aschenbrenner, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
18:00
Get Together & Dinner
13.05.2025 - Tuesday (Day 2)
Treatment I: Clinical trials targeting autoantibodies
Chairs
Nina Babel, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
Yehuda Shoenfeld, Tel Aviv University, Israel
9:00
20 min
More than 10 years of experience in autoantibody targeting in ME/CFS
Olav Mella, University of Bergen, Norway
9:20
20 min
Plasma cell targeting in ME/CFS
Øystein Fluge, University of Bergen, Norway
9:40
10 min
B cell depletion targeting CD19 trial in ME/CFS and PCS
Judith Bellmann-Strobl, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
9:50
10 min
Rituximab trial in ME/CFS
Wakiro Sato, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan
10:00
10 min
Immunoadsorption trial in ME/CFS
Elisa Stein, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
10:10
10 min
Immunoadsorption in severely ill ME/CFS
Georg Schlieper, Dialysis Hannover - Center for Kidney, Hypertension and Metabolic Diseases, Germany
10:20
30 min
Coffee Break
Treatment II: Clinical trials
Chairs
Christiana Franke, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
Jürgen Steinacker, University Clinic Ulm, Germany
11:00
20 min
Overview of IgG therapy in ME/CFS and PCS
Nina Babel, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
11:20
20 min
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) trial in ME/CFS
Laura Kim, Charité - University Medicine Berlin, Germany
11:40
10 min
Low-dose Naltrexone (LDN) and Mestinon trial in ME/CFS
David Systrom, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA
11:50
10 min
Low-dose Rapamycin trial in PCS
David Putrino, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, USA
12:00
20 min
Targeting muscle and mitochondrial dysfunction in ME/CFS
Klaus Wirth, Mitodicure GmbH, Germany
12:20
20 min
Targeting viral persistence in PCS
Michael Peluso, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), USA
12:45
Poster award & Lunch & Adjourn
More Information
Sponsors