FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Bay Area Lyme Foundation Announces National Winner of the 2025 Emerging Leader Award to Develop a Much-Needed Rapid, Low-Cost, Easy-to-Use Lyme Disease Test
Winner Chao Wang of Arizona State University will receive $150,000 to evaluate a unique diagnostic that uses gold nanoparticles and has been proven in other infectious diseases
PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., June 12, 2025—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, has given its 2025 Emerging Leader Award (ELA) to Chao Wang, PhD, associate professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University, faculty with ASU’s Biodesign Institute® and an expert in nanotechnology and biosensors. Wang will receive $150,000 to support his work to develop a much-needed rapid, low-cost, easy-to-use test, called Nano2RED-LD, for Lyme disease. The test aims to deliver results in as few as 30 minutes when a patient who may have Lyme disease first sees a doctor.
There is an immense need for better Lyme disease tests. Today’s standard-of-care tests miss too many cases at all stages of Lyme disease, including as many as 70% of early Lyme cases.
“With Lyme disease cases rising steadily across the U.S., the need for accurate and timely diagnostic tools has never been greater,” said Katariina Tuovinen, research grant director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “Dr. Wang’s pioneering work epitomizes the essence of this award as it applies innovation from other infectious diseases in an effort to enhance outcomes for patients affected by Lyme disease.”