Post-Doctoral Researcher, Harvard University

Ultra-Sensitive Diagnosis of Tick-Borne Pathogens Using Target Capture and Next-Generation Sequencing

Dr. Jacob Lemieux is a post-doctoral researcher in the Sabeti Lab at Harvard University and an infectious disease fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He holds a B.S. from Stanford University, a D.Phil. in molecular parasitology from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar and member of the NIH-Oxford Graduate Partnership Program, and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

As an active infectious disease clinician, Dr. Lemieux cares for patients with a variety of infectious diseases. The goal of his research is to improve the care of patients with tick-borne disease by advancing our understanding of fundamental disease mechanisms and developing new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

His diagnostic project was selected for the 2020 Emerging Leader Award, a $100,000 grant. Dr. Lemieux’s ELA project is focused on using next-generation sequencing and target capture to develop a sensitive diagnostic for early Lyme disease. His project utilizes samples from the Lyme Disease Biobank for this project and builds on outstanding past BAL-funded work and compelling preliminary data.