Overview
The unhide® Project is a non-interventional, longitudinal research study designed to establish a secure data repository of demographic, health, and lifestyle information from individuals with brain inflammation and related neuroinflammatory conditions. Participants in the United States aged 2 years and older will provide self-reported health data, biometrics, and symptom diaries through the MyDataHelps™ app (branded as unhide® for this study). The goal is to create comprehensive longitudinal profiles to facilitate research into disease subtypes, causes, diagnostics, and potential treatments, as well as to identify potential participants for future optional studies. "Healthy" individuals without brain inflammation are also eligible to participate.
The digital health research platform used in this study was originally developed and designed by Solve M.E and was called SolveTogether. The Brain Inflammation Collaborative (BIC) expanded upon Solve M.E.'s work to include related diagnoses, pediatric participants, enhance symptom tracking, and more. BIC and Solve M.E. combined Solve Together and unhide®, to create The unhide® Solve Together Unified Platform in 2025.
Description
The unhide® Project is sponsored by the Brain Inflammation Collaborative (BIC), a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of neuroinflammatory illness. This study will create a secure, long-term repository of demographic, health, lifestyle, biometric, and symptom data from individuals in the United States with brain inflammation and related conditions, as well as unaffected individuals. Data will be collected remotely through MyDataHelps™ by Care Evolution (rebranded as unhide®), a secure mobile and web-based platform enabling eConsent, survey completion, health record linkage, and optional symptom/activity tracking.
Eligible participants are U.S. residents aged 2 years and older, including both self-identified and physician-diagnosed individuals with infection-associated, autoimmune, neuroimmune, inflammatory gastrointestinal, and behavioral/mood disorders, as well as "healthy" individuals. There are minimal exclusion criteria: individuals living outside the U.S., wards of the state, and those with decisional impairment are ineligible. Pregnant women may participate, and prior or concurrent participation in other research studies is permitted.
The study will follow participants for 10 or more years, collecting self-reported health information, comorbidities, medical history, biometrics (e.g., heart rate, sleep, activity), and symptom data to generate comprehensive longitudinal health profiles. This data resource aims to accelerate translational research, identify disease subtypes, uncover causes and risk factors, support the development of diagnostic tests and treatments, and improve outcomes for individuals affected by neuroinflammation.
Eligibility
Participants may be either self-diagnosed, or diagnosed by a physician with the following conditions:
- Infection-associated chronic conditions such as Long COVID, chronic Lyme, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS), and post-acute neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS/PANDAS).
- Neuroimmune, developmental, autonomic, and neurological conditions like migraines, dysautonomia, POTS, multiple sclerosis, and autism spectrum disorder.
- Autoimmune diseases such as Lupus, Sjogren's Disease, rheumatoid arthritis, myasthenia gravis, ankylosing spondylitis, and related autoimmune conditions.
Inflammatory gastrointestinal conditions such as Crohn's Disease, Celiac Disease, and ulcerative colitis.
- Behavioral and mood disorders such as anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, PTSD, eating disorders, OCD, and other related conditions.
- "Healthy" people (without brain inflammation), including unaffected individuals, unaffected individuals in the same household, and unaffected individuals who are married to relatives and family members.
- Have consistent internet access and a cell phone, tablet, or PC since this is an online or app-based platform that requires entering data and completing surveys.
- Currently live in the United States
- Be able to participate in English (stay tuned for updates about the Spanish language version)
- Be willing to share symptom and health data through the platform
