LOCOME

The LOCOME (LOng COvid and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis Diagnostics Stratification) project is a two-year initiative that started in 2024. It is led by precison-medicine company PrecisionLife, in collaboration with Action for ME and the MRC Human Genetics Unit at the University of Edinburgh. The project is funded by a grant of over  £600,000 from the Government’s Innovate UK Advancing Precision Medicine programme. 

LOCOME will use DecodeME study data and PrecisionLife’s combinational analysis methods. It aims to stratify (split) individuals with ME and Long Covid into subgroups based on distinct DNA variants, linked to a single gene associated with disease mechanisms. These subgroups would map to specific symptom patterns and experiences and help generate disease ‘signatures’ and stratification tools.

This would help to

  • better understand the biological processes driving each subgroup and the disease as a whole. 
  • identify potential biomarkers to improve diagnosis. 
  • identify new or existing drugs that could be used to target the disease mechanisms of each subgroup and develop clinical trials to test those drugs as potential treatments for ME/CFS and Long Covid. 

Working with