CFS Computational Challenge

In March 2005, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) CFS Research Program launched the CFS Computational Challenge. They organized four multidisciplinary teams comprised of CFS researchers and bioinformatics experts representing academic and biotech institutions in the U.S. and several other countries. At the meeting in March, the teams were given epidemiologic, clinical and gene expression data from CFS subjects and three control groups amassed in the Wichita Clinical Study and were asked to develop analytical approaches and algorithms to describe the pathogenesis of CFS.

Over the past 7 months, the teams made data-driven decisions and tested hypotheses about complex relationships between variables. Teams presented their preliminary solutions at a meeting titled “From Markers to Models: Integrating Data to Make Sense of Biological Systems,” held September 18-21, 2005 at the prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories. The participants are continuing to refine their data-mining findings and a journal supplement with several papers generated by Computational Challenge participants is planned by CDC. A meeting summary has be posted to the CDC’s CFS web site.

The project was modeled after the Critical Assessment of Microarray Data Analysis (CAMDA) challenge issued annually by Duke University’s Comprehensive Cancer Center. The 2006 CAMDA challenge will also utilize data from the Wichita clinical study of CFS, involving a large number of academic and commercial institutions experienced with these cutting-edge techniques in the search for a biomarkers for CFS.

The CFIDS Association of America co-sponsored the September meeting and will also sponsor the 2006 CAMDA meeting. CAMDA participants will receive information about CFS from the CFIDS Association to enhance their understanding of the illness and aid in the analysis and interpretation of the data.