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Contact Details

Email
warren.tate@otago.ac.nz
Position
Emeritus Professor
Department
Department of Pathology (Dunedin)
Qualifications
PhD
Research summary
Understanding the pathophysiology of post viral fatigue syndromes, ME/CFS and Long COVID
Teaching

Third year medical programme ELM3 on post viral fatigue syndromes

Memberships

Warren is a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and internationally, a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany, and was an International Research Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute of the United States. Member, Society for Biochemistry and Molecular biology

Clinical

Commitments to the ME/CFS national advisory association, ANZMES, and ME/CFS and Long COVID patients

Research

Warren has been a researcher and academic at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand spanning 57 years. For 30 years he researched the fundamental mechanisms of how the ribosome mediates protein synthesis, and how this biology and the genetic code arose 3-4 billion years ago. He demonstrated the translational stop signal is a sequence element and not simply the triplet codon shown in the genetic code, and co-discovered a new rare mechanism of gene regulation, translational frameshifting used commonly by viruses and as a vulnerable point in the biology of HIV-1. This led to studies of unexplained human functions and diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and memory, and a natural human brain protein with strong therapeutic potential.

His most recent research programme initiated in 2012 has been on debilitating post-viral fatigue syndromes, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Long COVID, focussing on preclinical studies with New Zealand patients to understand their pathophysiology and the underlying molecular mechanisms. He received the Distinguished Research Medal of the University of Otago in 2006, the Rutherford Medal of the Royal Society of NZ in 2010, a research excellence award from the Health Research Council of New Zealand in 2016 and the Marsden Medal from the New Zealand Association of Scientists in 2018. He was awarded a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (CNZM), for services to Science in 2011.

Additional details

Served in various roles of the Health Research Council 1977- 2006 including Governance Board and Chair of the Biomedical Committee 1999-2006

Publications

Tate, W. P., & Peppercorn, K. (Eds.). (2025). Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Methods and protocols: Methods in molecular biology (Vol. 2920). New York, NY: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4498-0 Edited Book - Research

Sweetman, E., & Tate, W. P. (2025). Using the ratio of phosphorylated to non-phosphorylated forms of stress kinase PKR as a potential diagnostic test for ME/CFS. In W. P. Tate & K. Peppercorn (Eds.), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Methods and protocols: Methods in molecular biology (Vol. 2920). (pp. 13-28). New York, NY: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4498-0_2 Chapter in Book - Research

Peppercorn, K., Edgar, C. D., Al Momani, S., Rodger, E. J., Tate, W. P., & Chatterjee, A. (2025). Application of DNA methylome analysis to patients with ME/CFS. In W. P. Tate & K. Peppercorn (Eds.), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Methods and protocols: Methods in molecular biology (Vol. 2920). (pp. 141-160). New York, NY: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4498-0_9 Chapter in Book - Research

Edgar, C. D., Blair, A., & Tate, W. P. (2025). Measurement of genetic variations in ME/CFS patients in the IDO2 gene encoding an enzyme metabolizing tryptophan. In W. P. Tate & K. Peppercorn (Eds.), Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Methods and protocols: Methods in molecular biology (Vol. 2920). (pp. 247-256). New York, NY: Humana Press. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4498-0_14 Chapter in Book - Research

Sharma, S., Peppercorn, K., Rodger, E., Tate, W. P., & Chatterjee, A. (2025). Developing a blood-based epigenomic signature for ME/CFS and Long COVID using Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs). Proceedings of the Genetics Otago (GO) Annual Symposium. Retrieved from https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/go Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

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