Seminar: Dr Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik, Immunologist and Researcher

Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik

Professor Marshall-Gradisnik is Director of the National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Disease (NCNED), Griffith University, Qld and co-author of the International Concensus Primer for Medical Practitioners (ICC).

Professor Marshall-Gradisnik has been an advisor to numerous local and international government agencies, with sustained success as an independent researcher, drawing in $15 million to ME/CFS research over the past ten years. In 2021, she was appointed Program Director of Disability and Rehabilitation, Menzies Health Institute Queensland. She is currently leading a team of 30 ME/CFS researchers and clinicians.

Professor Marshall-Gradisnik is recognised as the world leader in NK cells and ion channel dysfunction in ME/CFS, which has been made possible through her pioneering technique of electrophysiology patch clamp.

NCNED’s priority is ME/CFS patients, with research primarily focused on priorities identified by the ME/CFS community. NCNED maintains a large clinical database and biobank for ME/CFS. This has supported publications on health economics, quality of life, and sociodemographic data. They are working toward a screening/diagnostic test, improved clinical guidelines, and effective treatments for ME/CFS, including pharmacotherapeutics and drug repurposing.

Seminar

Sonya explained the physiology and technology behind their ground-breaking exploration of calcium ion channels in cell walls and mitochondrial walls, in people with ME/CFS, people with Long COVID and healthy controls. The evidence for a beneficial impact of Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) in the cells of people with ME/CFS and Long COVID was outlined.

Sonya provided a thorough, informative, and detailed talk, laying out the complex material in a way that enabled understanding.

Members can access slides and a recording of the seminar in Member Resources.