Emerging Leader Award Recipient, Peter Gwynne, PhD
Peter Gwynne, PhD
Post Doctoral Researcher, Tufts University
Peter Gwynne, PhD, Post Doctoral Researcher, Tufts University, earned a BSc in Biochemistry from Cardiff University and a PhD in Molecular Microbiology from the University of Edinburgh. In Edinburgh, he completed two postdoctoral positions working between academia and industry, including developing antimicrobial medical devices to prevent hospital-acquired infections. His research focuses on developing novel technologies for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of bacterial infections. In 2018, he moved to Tufts University School of Medicine to study the metabolic adaptation of the Lyme disease bacterium B. burgdorferi to its human hosts. From this work, a series of antibodies was identified and found to be diagnostic for acute Lyme disease. His current project will use samples from Lyme Disease Biobank to test whether these antibodies could also be used to diagnose persistent symptoms of the disease. His diagnostic project was selected for the 2022 Emerging Leader Award, a $100,000 grant. Another project aimed at developing narrow-spectrum drugs targeting similar metabolic processes will begin this year, also funded by Bay Area Lyme Foundation.
Project Overview:
Building on his previous work that has identified three antibodies which are markers of acute infection, this project will investigate the contribution of these antibodies in patients with acute and persistent symptoms. He plans to expand the antibody target panel to include other lipid species, and he will study the antibodies as diagnostic biomarkers. The goal is to conduct a complete survey of anti-lipid antibodies in acute and persistent Lyme disease and to begin investigations into the use of some of these antibodies as diagnostic markers of persistent disease. This data could form the basis for a test capable of quantifying the occurrence and resolution of post-treatment Lyme disease symptoms