Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine

Current Research Projects

Investigating causes of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) remains a perplexing condition with no specific diagnostic tests or known cure.

Dr Sonya Marshall, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at Bond University’s Faculty of Health Sciences and Medicine is collaborating with the Gold Coast Public Health Unit in establishing a centre for population health, specifically the Neuropeptides Centre, which examines how auto immunity may play a role in certain diseases such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Dr Don Staines, Public Health Medical Officer at the Gold Coast Population Health Unit - Population Health and Neuropeptide Unit (PHANU), and Dr Sonya Marshall have spent the past few years developing ideas on testing CFS.

“Certain severe fatigue-related conditions have been documented for quite some time but no cause has been identified despite significant abnormalities in blood profiles and other investigations,” said Dr Don Staines.

“Because a test has never been available for this and no one has thought of it before, the problem physicians face is that if there is no test, then philosophically there is no disease.

“As tests are only abstract representations of something that has already been broken down and identified, this would be of enormous benefit to physicians as well as patients.”

Drs Staines and Sonya Marshall believe there may be a connection with vasoactive neuropeptides and the production of cyclic AMP that may ultimately form the basis of a diagnostic procedure.

“Cyclic AMP has profound effects in physiology and, being an intracellular transmitter, any impairment of this activity would be quite serious,” said Dr Marshall.

“This is extremely significant at an international level and, if the theory proves to be true, it will greatly assist CFS sufferers and the physicians who treat them.”

As one of possibly only four laboratories worldwide to be engaging in this niche area of research, the response to their work so far has been very positive. They have received a grant for the purchase of a flow cytometer to enable the team to examine inflammatory markers and receptors on cells at a molecular level. Dr Marshall also received a Ramaciotti Award in October 2007, valued at $30,000, to fund a project in relation to the flow cytometer to help sustain this research.

Key Project Team Members

Contact:

Dr Sonya Marshall

Faculty of Health Sciences & Medicine
BOND UNIVERSITY QLD 4229
AUSTRALIA

Phone: +61 7 5595 4447
Email: smarshal@bond.edu.au