EXPERTS from the Hull-York Medical School will play a key role in new research into a disabling illness that affects thousands of people.

The medical school will be part of a groundbreaking "research observatory" which will gather data on factors which affect people suffering from ME (Myalgic Encaphalomyelitis) - also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS).

The three-year project has been given £500,000 by the Big Lottery Research Grants Programme. It is being sponsored by the Action for ME charity, which is dedicated to improving the lives of people with the disease.

Teams from the University of East Anglia and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine will also be involved in the study, whose aims include increasing the availability of information about ME.

Project leaders also want to reduce the stigma effect for sufferers, of which there are up to 240,000 in Britain.

Experts from the Hull-York Medical School (HYMS) will establish links with GPs to encourage them to report new cases of ME. These will be used to build up a register of patients."

Professor Peter Campion, foundation professor of primary care medicine at the medical school, said: "This grant is wonderful news because it has traditionally been difficult to attract funding for research into CFS/ME."

Carli Barry committed suicide in 2001 aged 27, after suffering from the debilitating illness for several years.

Her mother Sheila Barry said: "Encouraging doctors to report new cases of ME is important, because most of the trouble is that GPs don't diagnose it quickly enough.

"If you diagnose it more quickly, you can take steps to prevent it getting any worse. And it's important for them to listen to carers' experiences, because ME has the most appalling affect on the whole family."

Updated: 09:41 Friday, March 31, 2006