#8 Exploring the drivers of post-infectious illness, with Harvard Neuroimmunologist Michael VanElzakker, PhD

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Jan 21, 2025

Dr. Michael VanElzakker is a Harvard neuroimmunologist and co-founder of The PolyBio Research Foundation, dedicated to unraveling post-viral illnesses. He discusses the importance of understanding individual drivers of conditions like ME/CFS amidst long COVID. VanElzakker emphasizes the need for holistic approaches to diagnose and treat these complex illnesses, exploring neuroinflammation, the immune-nervous system interplay, and advancements in unbiased research to improve patient care and diagnostics.

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INSIGHT

Trigger Differences in PTSD vs ME/CFS

PTSD involves a singular triggering event while ME/CFS often involves persistent antigenic stimulation.
ME/CFS immune activation may be ongoing, reflecting persistent triggers rather than a resolved past event.

ADVICE

Insist on Thorough Testing

ME/CFS diagnosis often requires careful, comprehensive testing to rule out other treatable conditions.
Patients should seek thorough medical evaluations beyond typical short specialist visits for possible overlooked infections.

INSIGHT

Brain Imaging Reveals Neuroinflammation

ME/CFS brain imaging shows neuroinflammation, primarily glial activation, linked to the sickness response.
This neuroinflammation explains shared fatigue and pain symptoms but isn't the root cause of ME/CFS.

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Dr. Michael VanElzakker’s mission is to identify the individual drivers of post-viral illnesses. “How do you find something when you don’t know what you’re looking for?” he asks, believing that COVID-19, whilst a disaster for humanity, is giving us the opportunity to establish practises to identify those unknowns and establish more unbiased research methodologies.

Whilst ME/CFS encompasses huge numbers of people who have a shared end point in their symptom sets, VanElzakker believes that we need to seize this moment of Long Covid - where we know what the pathogenic driver is - to develop our understanding and testing across these post-infectious conditions.

The juncture of the brain and the immune systems is the focus of VanElzakker’s work where he studies the drivers of chronic disease. Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School, Massachusets General Hospital , and instructor at Tufts University, VanElzakker is a researcher, educator and patient advocate, taking a holistic approach to the science of his field.

Until 2020, VanElzakker focused his research on PTSD and ME/CFS, studying the interplay between the immune and nervous systems in these conditions. Drawing on this expertise in post-viral illnesses and the long-term effects of immune and nervous system dysregulation—whether triggered by a single event or persistent stimulation—he co-founded The PolyBio Research Foundation with the brilliant Amy Proal. Together, they have established a cutting-edge research initiative that brings together top scientists to develop a deeper, more cohesive understanding of these complex diseases.

In this episode VanElzakker shares insights into his research and the challenges surrounding chronic illness healthcare. He points to the need for improved testing protocols in ME/CFS to enable patients to rule out or identify underlying triggers for symptoms which have the potential to be addressed. He explains the differences that he has seen between the conditions of pre-Covid ME/CFS and the chronic consequences of COVID-19 in Long Covid patients. And he highlights PolyBio’s strategy of using the impetus and funding that has been brought to the fore to grapple with the millions of people suffering from Post-Covid conditions, to gain deeper understanding of post-viral conditions at large with the intention of moving other post-viral patients, from ME/CFS to post-Lyme, into studies as soon as is viable.

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