Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
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roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
@roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
410 followers 260 following 210 posts
Author of "stranger and stranger”, letter writer, advocate and fundraiser for biomedical ME/CFS research.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
cgatist.bsky.social
Interested in ME/CFS research?
Want to do a PhD with @aryback.bsky.social, @avakhamseh.bsky.social, @sjoerdvbeentjes.bsky.social & @cgatist.bsky.social?
Then apply for a *funded* Future Medicine PhD Fellowship.
See: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
Please contact us to discuss before applying.
Personalised blood-based biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) symptom severity at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Personalised blood-based biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) symptom severity at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
October 28, 2025 at 8:27 PM
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
Refreshingly progressive letter in today’s Times: www.thetimes.com/comment/lett...
Sir, No one likes paying more tax. My heart sank when I got my first tax estimate after moving to Denmark, a regular in the top three of highest-taxed nations. But now I think about how easy it is to get a doctor’s appointment, about the highly subsidised childcare, the fact that students get paid to go to university or college, the near-total absence of potholes, the excellent cycle paths, the army of gardeners that tend public spaces, the day-trip-worthy libraries, the generous state pension, the entirely publicly funded nursing homes… And I ask myself not whether Danes pay too much tax, but whether Britons pay enough? David Reay Sonderborg, Denmark
November 6, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
tomkindlon.bsky.social
New Trial By Error Interview--with Irish psychologist Brian Hughes @bmhughes.bsky.social --

Links:
crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/47768
&
www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K75...

Screenshot is latest update David Tuller @davetuller1.bsky.social has sent out by email to previous donors.

#MEcfs #LongCovid
Berkeley's crowdfunder for Trial By Error has reached 79% of the goal, with a few days left. Here's the link: https://crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/47768 ********** My friend and occasional co-author Brian Hughes, a psychology professor at the University of Galway, in Ireland, has long sought to counter the psychogenic framing of ME, ME/CFS, and Long COVID. In a new book, “Psychology’s Quiet Conservatism: How a Supposedly Woke Science Promotes Capitalism and Protects Privilege.” he explains why the psychogenic approach is fundamentally regressive and ends up depriving people of the medical care they need and deserve. I have interviewed Professor Hughes about the book: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0K75eNkaL4Q Here's a brief description from the publisher: "Psychology is often seen as a progressive discipline — a champion of social justice, diversity, and liberal values. But this provocative book challenges that assumption. It argues that psychology, from its historical entanglements with eugenics and colonialism to its modern-day focus on individualism, has long served to reinforce the status quo."
November 4, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
miriametucker.bsky.social
"Graded exercise" is neither supported by evidence nor recommended for people with an illness defined by worsening with exercise. #mecfs #longcovid www.medscape.com/viewarticle/...
No Evidence Supports Using Graded Exercise for ME/CFS
Studies examining the effects of activity-based interventions haven’t required post-exertional malaise as a core criterion for the now-termed ‘myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.’
www.medscape.com
October 31, 2025 at 1:18 PM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
aryback.bsky.social
Want to join our amazing team for a PhD in ME/CFS research as part of a funded Future Medicine PhD Fellowship?
See: www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
We offer: Exciting and rigorous science, PPI, truly interdisciplinary and fantastic research culture!

Please contact us to discuss before applying!
Personalised blood-based biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) symptom severity at University of Edinburgh on FindAPhD.com
PhD Project - Personalised blood-based biomarkers for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) symptom severity at University of Edinburgh, listed on FindAPhD.com
www.findaphd.com
October 28, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
tomkindlon.bsky.social
🧵
Thanks very much to my good friend, Orla Ní Chomhraí, for bravely giving a 6-minute talk about my #MECFS story & work to a crowd of 470 people at the Belvedere College (past pupils’) Union dinner on Friday where I was presented with the Social Justice award.

#PwME @irishmecfsassoc.bsky.social
1/
Photo of Belvedere Union president, John Reynolds, Orla Ní Chomhraí & me
October 24, 2025 at 7:53 PM
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
“Grief sits heavily indeed when it must be stared full in the face, day after day. But joy, conversely, soars high in a life stripped bare. How intense is the beauty of the sky or a spring flower when days are bleak.”

Another beautifully written blog by @naomiwhitt.bsky.social
On Gratitude and Grief
Through many years living with severe illness, I’ve come to know a lot about emotions.  From the sorrow and regret of a life lived so differently to anything that might have been chosen; to th…
alifehidden.com
October 25, 2025 at 12:12 PM
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
@georgemonbiot.bsky.social I’m sure you will be delighted to learn that Dame Clare Gerada, Lady Wessley, has been appointed to the House of Lords. Judging by the responses to the congratulatory RCGP post on X she appears to be nearly as unpopular with drs as she is with ME/CFS patients.
October 24, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
davetuller1.bsky.social
For the first time, Berkeley's Trial By Error crowdfunding campaign has reached 50% of the goal right at the 15-day half-way point. Most times, it's at about a third at this point. If you'd like to donate, here's the link:
crowdfund.berkeley.edu/project/47768
David Tuller's Trial by Error Fall 2025
Help UC Berkeley raise $68,000 for the project: David Tuller's Trial by Error Fall 2025. Your gift will make a difference!
crowdfund.berkeley.edu
October 23, 2025 at 10:45 AM
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
Poignant sequel to Rilke’s poem The Panther by Veronica Ashenhurst who has severe ME/CFS: www.westtrestlereview.com/wtr_septembe...
Rilke's Panther Befriends Me by Veronica Ashenhurst
Now, the cat soars through rooms of sky, roars at stars, and recalls old years of midnight hunts. He springs his unbound will, and comes to condole with me. I can see his paws, claws withdrawn like sw...
www.westtrestlereview.com
October 17, 2025 at 1:39 PM
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
youtu.be/1dgKMO0tPBw?...
October 15, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
mecfsskeptic.bsky.social
1) We’ve just published our second instalment on the DecodeME results, this timing zooming in on the genes associated with ME/CFS.
October 13, 2025 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
mecfsskeptic.bsky.social
1) Another interesting interview of Prof Chris Ponting by David Tuller.

They talked about PRIME, a new 4-year project that will provide an infrastructure to accelerate ME/CFS research. It received 0.8 million in funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC).
October 14, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
actionforme.bsky.social
Our 2025 Big Survey is now open! 🎉

For more information, our FAQs, and to take part, head to our web page: www.actionforme.org.uk/research-campaigns/our-research-work/big-survey/

Thank you for supporting our research💙

🤝in collaboration with
@durhamimh.bsky.social @kacheston.bsky.social
October 13, 2025 at 10:19 AM
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
A rare October wheelchair outing yesterday. Wakehust was magical in the autumn sunshine.
October 10, 2025 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
cgatist.bsky.social
The research used to claim reliability of a ME/CFS blood test has important limitations, shown here.

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...
Three possible confounders in a study proposing an ME/CFS blood test : sex/age, batch and inactivity/severity. Better designed studies by independent researchers are necessary.
October 8, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
mecfsskeptic.bsky.social
7) Here’s the link to our article:
DecodeME: the biggest ME/CFS study ever - ME/CFS Science
The first results of DecodeME are in, the largest research project ever undertaken on myalgicContinue readingDecodeME: the biggest ME/CFS study ever
mecfsscience.org
October 4, 2025 at 8:28 AM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
mecfsskeptic.bsky.social
1) We’ve written an article about the DecodeME results: what the study measured, what the results show, and why its findings are important.
October 4, 2025 at 8:27 AM
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
The big issue of the day: fewer or less than half of children? www.thetimes.com/comment/colu...

@susiedent.com please can you adjudicate?
Let’s be natural when it comes to fewer versus less This is contested territory — it certainly seems to rile some of our readers Rob Nash Friday September 12 2025, 7.52pm, The Times Fewer than half of Feedback readers spend less than 20 minutes a day thinking about grammar. Or perhaps I mean: less than half of readers spend fewer than 20 minutes a day thinking about grammar. The first version is preferable, to my mind. But not to everyone’s. Our style guide says: “The thing being measured is singular (time, space) even if the units (years, miles) are plural.” Fewer, on the other hand, is used “generally with plural nouns”. Feedback readers are definitely a plural (even in a bad week), so it’s fewer. QED, surely. QEDon’t, reckoned Robert Saunders of West Sussex, who was “shocked to read that ‘Fewer than half of UK children under 15 help with household chores’. What is the world coming to? It is less than half, not fewer.” Bernard Hughes was likewise “disturbed by the headline. ‘Fewer than half’ is surely an example of hypercorrection. ‘Less than half’ is much more natural and I think would have been universally used till people started worrying about it seeming wrong. ‘Half’ is an amount, not a number. Will you come out against this nonsense?” This is contested territory, and it seems to me in the case of our headline that there are three questions. First, is less/fewer referring to the size of the fraction or the number of children? The latter, in my view. Second, even if the latter, would it still be preferable to use less? Not to my ear. Third, can one not choose whichever one thinks sounds better? I suppose so. As the Times style guide concludes: “This is an area where prescriptive zeal should not trump common sense and an ear for what sounds natural and right; so that’s one less thing to worry about.”
September 13, 2025 at 3:08 PM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
meassociation.org.uk
ME Research UK and the ME Association are excited to announce funding to Dr Fatima Labeed and Dr Jackie Cliff to develop a diagnostic test for ME/CFS, expanding on their initial study showing electrical differences in blood cells from people with ME/CFS. 

https://meassociation.org.uk/wohx

#MECFS
Research: Second-Phase Funding to Advance the Development of a Diagnostic Test for ME/CFS - The ME Association
The ME Association and ME Research UK are excited to […]
meassociation.org.uk
September 10, 2025 at 1:04 PM
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
In 2023 I unsuccessful nominated Tom for an honorary degree at Trinity College Dublin with the support of numerous scientists, organisations and others. (Details here: www.s4me.info/threads/tom-...)

Delighted that Tom has now been honoured by the Belvedere Union. Hugely well-deserved 💪 🥳
September 3, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
Prof Chris Ponting, lead author of DecodeME: “It is clear that ME is not a research priority for this UK government ... We have to asked the question of them: Why is ME not a priority when all these other diseases have been and are?“

Why is that @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social?
August 15, 2025 at 12:53 AM
roberthmcmullen.bsky.social
Prof Chris Ponting, lead author of DecodeME: “It is clear that ME is not a research priority for this UK government ... We have to asked the question of them: Why is ME not a priority when all these other diseases have been and are?“

Why is that @rthonwesstreeting.bsky.social?
August 15, 2025 at 12:53 AM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
susiedent.com
Sometimes the historical dictionary offers solace through the existence of an obsolete word that is sorely needed now. One of them is ‘respair’, recorded just once, in the 15th century. It means fresh hope, and a recovery from despair.
July 26, 2025 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by Robert Saunders (aka McMullen)
decodemestudy.bsky.social
"DecodeME is now calling on researchers worldwide to join us in accelerating ME/CFS research.” - Prof Chris Ponting (DecodeME Investigator).

We encourage researchers to explore and build on our findings. Apply for access to our rich dataset now shorturl.at/F8aOM
Image of Chris Ponting next to quote "This is a wakeup call. These extraordinary results speak the language of people with ME/CFS, often recounting people's ME/CFS symptoms. DecodeME is now calling on researchers worldwide to join us in accelerating ME/CFS research"
August 12, 2025 at 10:11 AM