FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tess Falor, Renegade Research
Email: contact@renegade-research.org
Renegade Research Awarded a Solve M.E. Catalyst Grant to Trial Promising Treatments
Innovative Patient-Led Research Will Advance Knowledge of Helpful Therapeutics for ME/CFS and Long COVID
[Brighton, Michigan -- July 20, 2026] Today, Renegade Research (RR), a patient-led research organization, and Solve M.E., a pre-eminent ME/CFS and Long COVID advocacy and research grant-giving organization, are announcing that Solve is giving a Catalyst award to RR for their innovative SIGNAL project.
The Solve grant will be used to immediately establish and run RR's SIGNAL project, a "Decentralized Discovery Platform for Emerging Therapeutic Devices in ME/CFS and Long COVID." SIGNAL will address three unmet needs in the ME/CFS and Long COVID community:
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Generate real-world evidence on patients' responses to promising therapeutic devices, with a focus on identifying patient subgroups for which each treatment is most effective.
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Improve patient access by offering a "try before you buy" device lending library, so that expensive devices that might help are no longer out of reach.
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Share findings quickly with the community, not just in academic papers years from now. Share accessible reports that tell patients which devices show promise, for whom, and for which symptoms.
This project is built around a device lending library. Patients diagnosed with ME/CFS or Long COVID borrow promising therapeutic devices, shipped directly to their homes at no cost to them, for a 1-3 month lending period. While borrowing, participants contribute standardized longitudinal data through the Brain Inflammation Collaborative/Solve ME unhide® Solve Together platform. This allows each lending cycle to be a real-world research opportunity.
Initial SIGNAL treatments will include the Truvaga cervical Vagus Nerve Stimulation device and the Vielight Neuro Gamma helmet device, with additional devices added as the platform scales. As SIGNAL accumulates data, the devices showing strong signals of benefit to patients will be considered for neuroimaging studies through Jarred Younger, PhD, at the University of Alabama.
The project is run by Tess Falor, PhD, SIGNAL Project Director. Others on the RR team include: Todd Davenport, DPT, PhD, MPH, and SIGNAL Co-PI; Maya Lindemann, RN, BSN, and SIGNAL Co-PI; Jarred Younger, PhD, and SIGNAL Advisor, University of Alabama; John Haughton, MD, MS, and SIGNAL Medical Advisor; and Rivka Solomon, MS, SIGNAL Advisor.
SIGNAL builds on the work of, and philosophy behind, Renegade Research. Since 2022, RR's patient-led team has been leading observational projects that explore treatments promising for the ME/CFS and Long COVID community. They report out on the results as soon as possible, offering patients actionable information on viable treatments faster than a traditional clinical trial.
RR has been running two projects that set them up for launching SIGNAL:
1. Massachusetts Device Lending Library: RR advisor Rivka Solomon and her husband have been running a device lending library since 2025, with dozens of loans completed or in-progress, helping patients around Massachusetts and beyond. This has given RR firsthand experience with the successes and pitfalls of running a device lending library.
2. Truvaga Preliminary: Tess Falor and Rivka Solomon are currently running a 20-participant observational cohort using the Truvaga vagus nerve stimulation device. This project is giving the team experience with the logistics of running a national remote project and informs on what data to collect going forward. SIGNAL will build on this preliminary stage by scaling Truvaga in SIGNAL.
About Solve M.E.: The Solve ME/CFS Initiative (Solve M.E.) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing research and accelerating progress for people living with ME/CFS, Long Covid, and other infection-associated chronic conditions and illnesses (IACCIs). Through our work with the scientific, medical, and pharmaceutical communities, advocacy with government agencies, and alliances with patient groups around the world, we are advancing progress toward treatments and cures that can improve the lives of millions affected by these complex diseases. For more information, visit SolveME.org.
For more information, please contact:
Tess Falor, Renegade Research