News • Myalgic encephalomyelitis
Chronic fatigue syndrome: paving the way for better treatment
Associate Professor Rikke Katrine Jentoft Olsen from the Department of Clinical Medicine is taking part in an international research project aimed at generating new knowledge about myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. The project is receiving more than €7.5 million in EU funding.
Image source: Aarhus University
ME is a serious chronic illness that affects, among other things, the immune system, the nervous system and the body’s energy metabolism. At present, the condition is diagnosed on the basis of patients’ symptoms and by ruling out other illnesses. There are currently no biological markers that doctors can use to make the diagnosis.
In the DISCOVER-ME research project, Rikke Katrine Jentoft Olsen and her research colleagues at the Molecular Medicine Research Unit (MMF), together with international partners, will search for biological characteristics of the illness. They will also investigate whether patients can be divided into different subgroups. “Our goal is for patients to receive an earlier diagnosis in the future and treatment tailored to their individual disease mechanisms,” says Rikke Katrine Jentoft Olsen from the Department of Clinical Medicine and the Department of Molecular Medicine.
The researchers will collect data from 2,000 patients and carry out molecular analyses of more than 700 patients from five European biobanks. The data will be used to map clinical and biological differences and to develop AI-supported disease models that can identify existing active compounds with potential as treatments.
The project is funded through the EU’s Horizon Europe programme. Aarhus University is a partner in the four-year project and will receive €400,000 to map immunometabolic changes, with a particular focus on the role of mitochondria. The project grew out of the international biomedical research network European ME Research Group (EMERG), which, through more than ten years of collaboration, has built a research infrastructure for ME across Europe.
Source: Aarhus University
14.08.2026
