News Archives - Bay Area Lyme Foundation

“We Take Every Case Personally”: Understanding Lyme Disease Biobank’s Tissue Recovery Program

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Leading the Way series

A behind-the-scenes look at how Wauchita Green and Pauline Lui help turn patients’ tissue donations into research that is changing the future of Lyme disease.

Lyme Disease Biobank, a program of Bay Area Lyme Foundation, partners with the National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI) to help advance Lyme disease research. Together, they enable patients to contribute tissue samples, collected during surgery or after death, which the Biobank shares with approved scientists studying infection and immune response. NDRI’s nationwide recovery network ensures these precious donations are handled with care and respect. This partnership helps turn patient generosity into real progress, accelerating the search for better diagnostics, treatments, and ultimately, a cure.

The Biobank also partners with MyLymeData, allowing Lyme patients registered with the Biobank to link their MyLymeData profile to their tissue donation, if desired.

When families whose lives have been impacted by Lyme disease call to talk about donating tissue, they’re often overwhelmed. But thankfully, the NDRI private donor team is standing by 24/7/365 to help. Patients and families typically want to know:

“How much does this cost?”
“What actually happens?”
“Is this going to be complicated?”

Organ-On-A-Chip: Restoring a Patient’s Ability to Fight Back Against Lyme

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Leading the Way series

Our 2026 LymeAid Fund-A-Need supported Girija Goyal, PhD, at Harvard’s Wyss Institute, whose groundbreaking lymph node chip models human immune responses to Lyme disease, accelerating the development of personalized therapies and potentially restoring a patient’s ability to fight back against Lyme. This technology was recently highlighted in NASA Artemis-related organ chip research.

NASA is using organ-on-a-chip technologies to study human biology in space.

This breakthrough technology allows investigator Girija Goyal, PhD, at Harvard’s Wyss Institute to recreate key aspects of the human immune system on a tiny chip—a pioneering approach leveraging human biology rather than traditional animal models. Using her lymphoid organ chip, Dr. Goyal has identified one way Lyme bacteria appear to evade the immune system.

This is not research repurposed from another disease. It is a fundamentally new approach aimed at enabling the body’s natural ability to fight infection. It is Lyme-focused science built from the ground up and tested from the start in a human system designed by the scientist leading the work. Its promise is so significant that organizations like NASA are using similar organ-on-a-chip technologies to study human biology in space.

Bay Area Lyme Ventures Invests in Galaxy Diagnostics to Advance Tick-Borne Disease Testing

Galaxy Diagnostics and Bay Area Lyme Ventures

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bay Area Lyme Ventures Invests in Galaxy Diagnostics to Advance Tick-Borne Disease Testing

Partnership Aims to Accelerate Innovation in Diagnostic Tools for Patients with Complex Tick and Vector-Borne Illnesses

DURHAM, NC., June 2, 2026 – Galaxy Diagnostics, a leader in advanced vector-borne disease testing, has announced a strategic investment from Bay Area Lyme Ventures, the newly launched impact investment fund created by Bay Area Lyme Foundation to accelerate innovation in Lyme and tick-borne disease diagnostics and therapeutics.

With reported tick-borne disease cases more than doubling in the United States over the past two decades, the investment underscores the growing urgency for more accurate and accessible diagnostic tools for complex vector-borne illnesses.

Founded by leaders in vector-borne disease research, Galaxy Diagnostics was created to address a critical gap in medicine: the detection of stealth pathogens that often go undiagnosed by conventional testing. The company has become known for advancing diagnostics designed to help providers better identify complex infections associated with Lyme and other vector-borne diseases.

Galaxy’s growing portfolio includes advanced molecular testing, antigen detection technologies, and diagnostic collaborations to translate emerging scientific discoveries from the lab into real-world clinical tools. Backed by hundreds of peer-reviewed publications and partnerships with leading academic researchers, the company continues to advance new standards for precision in tick-borne disease diagnostics.

“We are honored to receive support from Bay Area Lyme Ventures at a critical moment for tick-borne disease diagnostics,” said Nicole Bell, CEO of Galaxy Diagnostics. “Bay Area Lyme has funded much of the foundational research that Galaxy is now bringing to patients — the investment in Galaxy reflects their commitment to seeing those innovations through to the clinic, and to ensuring that better diagnostics actually reach the people who need them.”

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Raises $900,000 at LymeAid 2026, Presenting Inaugural Neil L. Spector, MD, Legacy Award and $300,000 in Emerging Leader Grants

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Raises $900,000 at LymeAid 2026, Presenting Inaugural Neil L. Spector, MD, Legacy Award and $300,000 in Emerging Leader Grants

Dana Carvey Emceed; Chris Isaak Performed at Annual Gala Advancing Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Research

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., May 27, 2026 — Bay Area Lyme Foundation, the nation’s leading public charity funder of Lyme disease research, raised $900,000 at LymeAid 2026, its annual benefit gala, over the Memorial Day weekend. The evening brought together leading scientists and clinicians, patients, and supporters united by a shared conviction: Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections should not be hard to diagnose, hard to treat, or easy to dismiss, and the science to change that is within reach.

Emmy Award-winning comedian Dana Carvey served as Master of Ceremonies. “This was my third time hosting LymeAid, and let me tell you, this community has more determination than my Church Lady character at a bake sale,” said Carvey.

Platinum-selling, GRAMMY-nominated singer Chris Isaak and his band Silvertone closed the evening in concert.

“Saturday night, LymeAid 2026 attendees came together in support of patients and to advance the research producing better diagnostics, new treatment approaches, and long overdue answers for patients with Lyme and other tick-borne diseases,” said David Walsey, Executive Director of Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “Bay Area Lyme exists to fund exactly that work, because this is a solvable problem and there are too many patients still searching for answers, losing years to inadequate diagnostics and treatment options.”

New Bay Area Lyme Foundation Study Shows Common FDA-Cleared Lyme Tests Miss 64-78% of Early Cases, Underscores Urgent Need for Improved Diagnostics

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Bay Area Lyme Foundation Study Shows Common FDA-Cleared Lyme Tests Miss 64-78% of Early Cases, Underscores Urgent Need for Improved Diagnostics

Research published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., April 21, 2026 –Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national nonprofit and leading sponsor of tick-borne disease research in the US, today announced the publication of new research in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology based on data from its Lyme Disease Biobank. The study found that the commonly used FDA-cleared diagnostic testing methods available to providers and major national diagnostic laboratories are highly insensitive and miss 64-78% of early Lyme disease cases, including those who present with the characteristic erythema migrans (EM) Lyme rash.

“This study demonstrates that common two-tiered Lyme tests, utilized for decades, often fail to detect early Lyme disease and are leaving patients behind, highlighting a critical need for improved medical education on the limitations of current diagnostics,” said Liz Horn, PhD, MBI, Principal Investigator of Lyme Disease Biobank and lead author of the study. “Our findings also add to the evidence that improved diagnostics, ideally those that directly detect the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, are urgently needed.”

This large-scale, head-to-head study comparing 2 standard two-tiered testing (STTT) and 2 modified two-tiered testing (MTTT) diagnostic algorithms (the commonly used Lyme disease diagnostic algorithms) confirms that the sensitivity of two-tiered testing algorithms is low among patients with early infection. For the 107 early Lyme disease cases evaluated, the various testing algorithms missed 64-78% of early Lyme cases. Overall, only 39% (42/107) of participants with early Lyme disease were STTT or MTTT positive by any of the 4 algorithms.

New Peer-Reviewed Publication Highlights Evidence of Mother-to-Child-Transmission of Lyme Disease Bacteria During Pregnancy and Calls for Urgent Research

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

New Peer-Reviewed Publication Highlights Evidence of Mother-to-Child-Transmission of Lyme Disease Bacteria During Pregnancy and Calls for Urgent Research

New paper in Frontiers in Medicine reports results of meeting of international researchers at the Banbury Center of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., April 9, 2026 –Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national nonprofit and leading sponsor of tick-borne disease research in the US, today announced publication of a new peer-reviewed article in Frontiers in Medicine examining the transmission of the Lyme bacteria during pregnancy. The publication points to observational research demonstrating that Lyme bacteria are capable of being transmitted from mother to unborn child and recognition by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the potential for mother-to-child transmission. With approximately 500,000 Americans diagnosed with Lyme disease each year and the related correlation of transmission during pregnancy being associated with serious adverse pregnancy outcomes, such as miscarriage, stillbirth, or congenital infection that occur in some cases, the paper concludes that the clinical impact of Lyme disease on pregnancy and infant health is an important public health issue that has been insufficiently studied.

“As an infectious disease pediatrician, I have seen firsthand the impact of Lyme disease in children and have suspected that the infection may have been passed from mother to child during pregnancy in a number of my patients, based on their medical histories,” said Charlotte Mao, MD, of Bay Area Lyme Foundation and a co-author of the study. “The first case studies of mother-to-child transmission were observed in the 1980s, yet decades later, we still lack sufficient research and clear, evidence-based guidance on Lyme in pregnancy and adverse pregnancy outcomes. This is an important public health issue and underscores the urgent need for rigorous studies to fully understand the risks and support patients and healthcare providers in making informed decisions that better protect maternal and infant health.”

Study authors highlight the great need for real-world studies clarifying how Lyme Borrelia, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne disease in the US, behaves during pregnancy, and quantifying the outcomes for mothers and infants. Specifically, the paper suggests the creation of large, prospective studies of pregnant individuals with Lyme disease, including systematic long-term clinical follow-up of their children, as well as the importance of collecting biological samples from mothers, placentas, and infants through coordinated biorespositories for use in current or future studies.

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Highlights Research Leadership and Momentum in Tick-Borne Disease, Names New Executive Director

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Highlights Research Leadership and Momentum in Tick-Borne Disease, Names New Executive Director

Milestones include FDA-cleared diagnostics enabled by Lyme Disease Biobank, the launch of Bay Area Lyme Ventures, and 10 years since Lyme Disease Biobank provided its first samples, advancing the field

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., February 11, 2026 –Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national nonprofit and leading sponsor of tick-borne disease research, today reflected on concrete progress in 2025 that demonstrates the maturation of more than a decade of investment in diagnostics, therapeutics, and research infrastructure for Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. As Bay Area Lyme Foundation-supported programs advance towards being available for clinicians and patients, the organization announced David A. Walsey, JD, LLM, as Executive Director. He has extensive experience offering strategic guidance to life sciences companies and a personal connection to Lyme disease that will help guide the foundation’s next phase of scientific translation and organizational growth.

In 2025, Bay Area Lyme Foundation reached an important inflection point as new diagnostic tests enabled by the foundation’s Lyme Disease Biobank secured FDA clearance. These new tests highlight the potential to move from discovery-stage research toward tools that can meaningfully improve patient care. The organization also launched Bay Area Lyme Ventures, an investment arm designed to help promising diagnostics and therapeutics move more efficiently from the laboratory into real-world use, while also creating the opportunity for returns to support future Bay Area Lyme Foundation research. This progress underscores the importance of the more than $30 million in research Bay Area Lyme Foundation has invested at leading academic and medical institutions such as Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Tulane, and Duke. Research supported by the foundation has produced over 70 peer-reviewed scientific publications and sustained collaboration across top research centers nationwide.

Bacterial Mechanism That Could Help Prevent and Treat Lyme Arthritis Identified by New Bay Area Lyme Foundation–Supported Study

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bacterial Mechanism That Could Help Prevent and Treat Lyme Arthritis Identified by New Bay Area Lyme Foundation–Supported Study

Research published in PLOS Pathogens highlights a cell wall–driven trigger of joint inflammation, pointing to new ways to target Lyme arthritis

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., January 20, 2026 — Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the United States, announced the publication of new research in PLOS Pathogens identifying a novel mechanism that may trigger Lyme arthritis, one of the most common and debilitating complications of Lyme disease in the US. The study provides new insight into how the structure of Borrelia burgdorferi peptidoglycan, a component of the bacterium’s cell wall, and its interaction with a Borrelia protein can provoke joint inflammation. In a preclinical model, subtle changes researchers made to the bacterium’s peptidoglycan structure nearly eliminated arthritis despite ongoing infection, suggesting new approaches to reduce Lyme arthritis and joint damage that may complement antibiotics by targeting inflammatory bacterial components.

“Understanding how these bacterial structures provoke inflammation is an avenue towards new approaches for limiting long-term joint damage and possibly treating patients whose symptoms persist despite standard antibiotic therapy,” said Brandon L. Jutras, PhD, lead author of the study and associate professor of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and a Bay Area Lyme Foundation 2021 Emerging Leader Award winner. “Our findings offer critical insight into how Lyme arthritis is largely driven by specific structural components of Borrelia burgdorferi that may be targeted independent of the other aspects of the infection.”

This new study demonstrates that the chemical makeup and physical structure of peptidoglycan, a structural component of the Borrelia cell wall, play a decisive role in determining whether joint inflammation develops. It also demonstrates how impeding peptidoglycan’s interaction with a specific Borrelia protein may impact the bacterium’s ability to migrate to and persist within joint tissue, resulting in near elimination of Lyme arthritis in the study.

Dr. Casey Kelley: From Lyme & Mold to Optimum Health

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Spotlight Series

Click here to watch or listen now

In a powerful Ticktective™ episode, host Dana Parish sits down with Casey Kelley, MD, Founder and Medical Director of Case Integrative Health, to unpack the complex world of Lyme disease, mold toxicity, environmental illness, and whole-body healing. Dr. Kelley had her own health journey with chronic fatigue, POTS, and other symptoms that led her to specialize in Lyme, tick-borne diseases, mold illness, long COVID, and other complex chronic illnesses. She brings clarity, compassion, and years of integrative and functional medicine experience to help patients understand what’s driving persistent symptoms and what true recovery can look like.

“The nervous system is utterly important to healing. And that entire system gets really thrown off with chronic infections exactly the same way that trauma with a capital T will cause dysfunction in the system.”

– Casey Kelley, MD

A New Year Call to Action After December 15, 2025, HHS Roundtable

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Bay Area Lyme Spotlight Series

By Charlotte Mao, MD, MPH, Bay Area Lyme Foundation

“Chronic Lyme Disease patients have been ignored for too long. That must end now.”

– Charlotte Mao, MD, MPH

A Long-Overdue Moment of Recognition

Starting in 2026, Lyme disease and other tick-borne disease patients and their families have some reason to be encouraged by the growing recognition of the realities they face and the prospect of continued research to support new diagnostics and treatments.

The December 15, 2025, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) roundtable marked something rare and long overdue: federal recognition of patient need, grounded in scientific evidence presented by researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates. But patients need more than another moment of recognition. They need results. In 2026, the question is whether that recognition will translate into sustained action, measurable progress, and real improvements in care.