The ME/CFS Research Foundation is funding three additional research projects at the Munich Chronic Fatigue Centre for Young People (MCFC) to establish and maintain urgently needed bases and infrastructure for ME/CFS research.
The ME/CFS Research Foundation has been funding the first model ward/clinic with diagnostic and therapeutic services for children and adolescents with severe ME/CFS in Munich since 2024 (link to our report). The opening of the clinic, which was delayed due to construction work, took place on 23 May 2025 (see short videos on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn , Youtube, TikTok / external links). We will publish video interviews with the projects members soon with more details.
Since the beginning of this year, we have further expanded our commitment and are supporting additional projects at the MCFC that seek to establish or maintain important infrastructure for ME/CFS research in Munich and beyond:
1. MCFC research laboratory: the laboratory prepares bio-samples (e.g. blood samples from patients) for examinations and analyses as part of ME/CFS research in Munich. Samples from patients with ME/CFS, similar diseases and healthy controls are processed. The processed samples are made available to research projects of other working groups in Germany and internationally and are analysed in cooperation with the biobank of the TUM clinic (external link) for future projects in the medium to long term.
2. ME/CFS-Biobank: The establishment of this important infrastructure for ME/CFS research was funded by the Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) from 2022 to 2024 (external link to project description). With the biobank in Munich, a standardised collection of biosamples from patients diagnosed with ME/CFS (based on internationally established diagnostic criteria - Institute of Medicine (IOM), Canadian Consensus Criteria (CCC)) has been established. It provides a translational basis for the future identification of diagnostic markers, risk factors, new therapeutic approaches and preventive strategies for ME/CFS. The ME/CFS Research Foundation will cover the running costs for biosample storage at the TUM Clinical Centre until 2025. The subsequent continued operation is to be financed through co-operating research projects and new public funding.
3. "HeLP" research project: The project Healthy Control Population für PAIS-ME/CFS (HelP) (external link) serves to support other research projects investigating, for example, potential ME/CFS disease mechanisms. The HeLP project recruits a cohort of healthy children, adolescents and young adults (up to the age of 25) and analyses them using various established and innovative measurement instruments. This enables comparative analyses of diseased and healthy individuals, e.g. for research into biomarkers, diagnostics and therapeutic approaches for ME/CFS and other post-infectious diseases. The control samples obtained in the project are also available to research projects of other working groups in Germany and internationally.
The funding of these three projects is in line with the objectives formulated in our research funding strategy in 2023; to finance biomedical research projects for which public funding is not (yet) available or only insufficiently available.
PEDNET-LC: In addition to these projects, we support the development of the nationwide paediatric care and research network PEDNET-LC as a cooperating partner (external links to PEDNET-LC project website and BMG websitewhich is dedicated to Long COVID-like diseases (including ME/CFS regardless of the trigger). PEDNET-LC was conceived under the leadership of Prof. Dr. Uta Behrends (MCFC) and with the participation of 20 specialised, interdisciplinary care centres, three specialised rehabilitation clinics, two pain clinics and eight research institutes throughout Germany. The network will focus on improving the diagnosis, treatment and research of Long COVID and similar diseases in children and adolescents in order to ensure comprehensive, effective and sustainable help for those affected. The project is funded by the BMG with around 41 million euros and is the largest care network of its kind in the world.
Prof Uta Behrends (MCFC) comments: "We are very grateful to the ME/CFS Research Foundation for its decisive and pragmatic commitment to maintaining and expanding our research projects at the MCFC and beyond. In addition to the essential main funding from the public sector - from the state government in Bavaria and at the federal level - private sponsors such as the Foundation continue to enable important components of our work. I am confident and pleased that we will be able to make further progress in the research and care of ME/CFS and Long COVID and similar diseases in the near future with the projects that are now underway."
For more details and a deeper insight into these projects, we have conducted several interviews with the MCFC staff involved in the projects on site. We will be publishing these here in the coming months.
How can you support the work of the ME/CFS Research Foundation?
There is still a long way to go before diagnosis, care and treatment of ME/CFS patients will one day become a medical and social standard. We at the ME/CFS Research Foundation are focussing on biomedical research, which we see as the key element in solving these problems (more on this in our research funding strategy and in our half year report summer 2025, which summarises our activities). To do this, we need extensive support from private donors – those affected, relatives, families, friends, associations, schools, networks, companies, initiatives, event organisers and all supporters. And if you are not able to provide direct support, you can share our story and motivate others to help. Because only together can such a feat be achieved.
We fully translate donations and other support into scientifically excellent research, networking and ultimately visible successes, i.e. better ME/CFS diagnostics and therapies. We are happy to work together with other organisations and initiatives - please contact us!
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