Bay Area Lyme Foundation Selects National Winner of the 2024 Emerging Leader Award for Research of Combination Therapies to Treat Chronic Lyme Disease

Trever Smith, PhD winner of Emerging Leader Award

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Bay Area Lyme Foundation Selects National Winner of the 2024 Emerging Leader Award for Research of Combination Therapies to Treat Chronic Lyme Disease

Winner Trever Smith, of Tufts University, will collect novel therapeutic data to develop a first-of-its-kind drug interaction compendium for Lyme Disease

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., August 1, 2024—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, announces the recipient of the 2024 Emerging Leader Award (ELA), which is designed to support new and innovative research and aims to attract aspiring new scientific talent to the field of Lyme. This year’s winner, Trever Smith, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine, will receive $150,000 for his work to identify precise treatment combinations that more effectively target persistent Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) infection in persistent Lyme patients. For this research, Dr. Smith intends to develop a first-of-its-kind drug interaction compendium to help prioritize the most effective combinations for testing in pre-clinical models of Lyme disease. To do so, Dr. Smith will leverage techniques he and other researchers use to identify effective drug combinations against other infectious diseases, such as tuberculosis, and translate them for Bb. Due to the difficulty in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, it is estimated that over two million patients currently suffer from the debilitating later-stage symptoms of persistent Lyme in the US, and there are currently no FDA-approved treatments for the persistent symptoms of Lyme disease.

“While combination therapies to treat chronic Lyme have shown promise in early research and are widely used with success in other disease areas, the vast majority of chronic Lyme patients are not able to benefit from combination therapies,” said Wendy Adams, research grant director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “Dr. Smith’s research aims to change this, as it builds on his previous research success in tuberculosis to bring the hope of combination therapies for Lyme to the forefront and seeks to give clinicians and researchers a better understanding of the advantages of combining current FDA-approved treatments in Lyme disease.”

New Study Reveals Potential Treatment for Neurologic Lyme Disease

Geetha Parthasarathy, PhD

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 New Study Reveals Potential Treatment for Neurologic Lyme Disease

Blocking certain fibroblast growth factor receptors is shown to be effective in reducing inflammation and cell death caused by neurologic Lyme infection in laboratory studies

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif. April 18, 2024—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, recently announced the publication of a laboratory study showing that fibroblast growth factor receptor (FGFR) inhibitors may be appropriate as an anti-inflammatory supplementary treatment for neurologic Lyme disease, for which there are no universally effective treatments. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Immunology, this study shows FGFRs are activated in response to both live and non-viable Lyme bacteria in preclinical brain tissue models. Further, inhibition of FGFR1, FGFR2, and FGFR3 may help mitigate the neuroinflammatory and neuropathogenic effects of infection by the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, Borrelia burgdorferi.  

“Our research shows a potential connection between neurological Lyme disease and several other neurological conditions, and this common pathway may explain why Lyme can be confused with many other conditions. Increasing our knowledge of FGFRs and their effect on the brain will help us understand the common mechanisms that may underlie Lyme disease and other neurological diseases,” said Geetha Parthasarathy, PhD, assistant professor at Tulane National Primate Research Center, Tulane School of Medicine, and a Bay Area Lyme Foundation 2019 Emerging Leader Award winner. “This data shows that FGFRs can be novel targets of anti-inflammatory therapeutics in Lyme patients with persistent neuroinflammation.”

“Our findings from this and our previous studies also offer important insight that may help to explain why some patients still experience chronic neurological symptoms even after a short course of antibiotics,” added Dr. Parthasarathy.

 New Study Demonstrates Protein May Provide Protection Against Lyme Disease

Mikki Thal, PhD

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 New Study Demonstrates Protein May Provide Protection Against Lyme Disease

Sweat protein protects against Lyme disease in vivo and is a potential therapeutic avenue for drug development

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif. April 3, 2024—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, recently announced the identification of an unknown common missense variant at the gene encoding for Secretoglobin family 1D member 2 (SCGB1D2) protein that increases the susceptibility for Lyme disease as well as two previously known variants. Published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications, this study shows normal versions of the SCGB1D2 protein prevent infection by Borrelia in vivo and appear to be a host defense factor present in the skin, sweat, and other secretions, opening an exciting potential therapeutic avenue for Lyme disease. This research was also featured on NBC10 News in Boston.

“We are excited that our international collaboration with Hanna Ollia’s group and our co-authors has turned up such an exciting and unexplored avenue in the body’s defenses against Lyme disease,” said Michal Tal, PhD, Principal Scientist in the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT, and a Bay Area Lyme Foundation 2018 Emerging Leader Award winner. “This discovery reveals a human protein with protective activity against the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, which we hope could lead to a future path for exploring new methods to prevent and treat Lyme disease.”

This research has shown that the genetic variant of the SCGB1D2 which creates a misshapen protein appears to be specific for Lyme disease and has not been previously reported as associated with any other disease, phenotype, or infection. The researchers also found that about one-third of the population carries a genetic variant of this protein that is associated with Lyme disease in genome-wide association studies (GWAS).

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Now Accepting Applications for 2024 Emerging Leader Award and Grant 

Emerging Leader Award Call for Entries 2023

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Bay Area Lyme Foundation Now Accepting Applications for 2024 Emerging Leader Award and Grant 

Annual grant seeks to attract innovative researchers with a new approach for diagnosing and treating tick-borne diseases

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., October 26, 2023—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, is announcing a call for entries for their 2024 Emerging Leader Awards (ELA), which aim to recognize U.S. researchers from academia or the private sector who bring new approaches to the field of Lyme disease and embody the future of Lyme disease research leadership. This year, the Foundation ELA will present a $150,000 award for a researcher who is at the post-doctoral level through associate professor level. 

While applicants must have a defined scientific approach to advancing diagnostics and/or therapeutics for Lyme disease, the grants are open to researchers from other therapeutic areas as well as those who have previously worked in Lyme disease research. Applications will be accepted through March 1, 2024 at 11:59pm, Pacific Time. The full criteria and application for this award can be found here. 

“The world is seeing firsthand the damage that infections can cause – both in acute and chronic forms –and Lyme is no exception. Even today, it presents a significant hurdle for the scientific research community,” said Wendy Adams, research grant director Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “We intend for our Emerging Leader Award to encourage creative, driven scientists to embrace the challenge of developing accurate diagnostic tests and effective therapeutics for various stages of tick-borne diseases.”

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary with a Convergence of Scientists, Clinicians, Patients and Celebrity Talent

LymeAid 2023

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Bay Area Lyme Foundation Celebrates Its 10th Anniversary with a Convergence of Scientists, Clinicians, Patients, and Celebrity Talent

BAL honors the 2023 Younger Family Emerging Leader Award Winner, announces iHeartRadio partnership and acknowledges the perseverance of patients with persistent Lyme disease

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., June 13, 2023—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, celebrated its 10th anniversary in May at LymeAid ®, its preeminent annual fundraising event, and announced Andriy Batchinsky, MD, as the winner of a $150,000 Younger Family Emerging Leader Award. A supportive audience of scientists, clinicians, patients, and philanthropists celebrated progress and commitment to ongoing research into tick-borne diseases, and iHeartRadio announced a partnership in honor of beloved DJ and radio host Jeffrey Vandergrift (“JV”), who passed away with Lyme disease earlier this year. LymeAid raised $683,000 of which 100 percent goes directly to fund scientific research, education, and prevention programs for Lyme disease, a potentially disabling infection that impacts an estimated half a million Americans each year.

Emmy-award winning comedian Dana Carvey, Master of Ceremonies for the event, was joined by The Bacon Brothers and local San Francisco band Pop Rocks, who were the musical guests for this evening of laughter, dining, and dancing to support cutting-edge discoveries and scientific breakthroughs. The fund-a-need for this event was Lyme Disease Biobank, a Bay Area Lyme Foundation program initiated in 2014 to collect and distribute blood, urine, and tissue samples for investigators working on developing diagnostics and treatment for tick-borne diseases.

“This is an amazing time for infectious disease research, offering great hope for patients. While we have made strides, our work is not done. We need to figure out the underlying cause of persistent Lyme disease and find a solution,” said keynote speaker Bill Robinson, MD, PhD, chief of the Division of Immunology and Rheumatology at Stanford University, who shared ongoing research exploring ways to weaponize antibodies against persistent Lyme disease.

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Celebrates Department of Defense CDMRP Tick-borne Disease Awardees

CDMRP

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Celebrates Department of Defense CDMRP Tick-borne Disease Awardees

Projects of three awardees to be enabled by Lyme Disease Biobank samples

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., March 23, 2023—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, announces that two projects it has previously funded have now received Department of Defense Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) Tick-Borne Disease awards. Three of the six recently announced CDMRP awardees will be using biological samples from Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s Lyme Disease Biobank to enable their research into diagnostics and therapeutics for tick-borne diseases, including Lyme disease—which infects half a million people each year. 

“Government awards like CDMRP help propel much needed research on tick-borne illnesses forward, and, with three diagnostics projects using Biobank samples, we are honored to play a part in making this important research possible,” said Liz Horn, PhD, MBI, Principal Investigator, Lyme Disease Biobank, which provides researchers with access to reliable biological samples to enable research toward better diagnostics and treatments for these complex diseases. “If researchers don’t have access to well-characterized blood samples with robust testing and medical information, they can’t build the necessary research programs to develop better diagnostics, which are urgently needed for these complex diseases,” added Dr. Horn.

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Offers $150,000 Grant for Emerging Leaders in Lyme Disease Research

2021 Emerging Leader Awards

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Bay Area Lyme Foundation Offers $150,000 Grant for Emerging Leaders in Lyme Disease Research

Annual award seeks to attract innovative researchers with a new approach to overcome the challenges of tick-borne diseases

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., October 19, 2022—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, is announcing a call for entries for their 2023 Emerging Leader Awards (ELA), which aim to recognize both established and up-and-coming researchers bringing new approaches and creative thinking to the field of Lyme disease. This year, the Foundation has increased the ELA award to $150,000 for researchers in academia or the private sector who are at the post-doctoral level through associate professor level. 

While applicants must have a defined approach to improving diagnostics and therapeutics for Lyme disease, the grants are open to those who have previously worked in Lyme disease research as well as researchers from other therapeutic areas. Applications will be accepted through February 15, 2023 at 11:59pm, Pacific Time. The full criteria and application for this award can be found at https://www.bayarealyme.org/our-research/emerging-leader-award/. 

“Despite modest increases in government funding, there is still a significant need for ‘out of the box’ ideas pulled from proven scientific approaches in other therapeutic areas,” said Wendy Adams, research grant director Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “We fund innovative scientifically-sound research and are seeking driven, rigorous scientists who can help make progress towards developing accurate diagnostic tests and effective therapeutics for various stages of the disease.”

The Emerging Leader Award is designed to support research that will increase the scope of investigation in Lyme disease and help develop better diagnostics and treatments. Bay Area Lyme Foundation encourages researchers to explore novel, scientifically well-founded concepts with potential utility toward that goal. Many ELA recipients have subsequently received grants from other groups including the NIH, as well as continued support from Bay Area Lyme Foundation. The efforts funded by this award are required to generate initial proof of concept within 12-24 months and requires applicants to demonstrate professional and scientific leadership in the biomedical sciences and a strong supporting scientific rationale. 

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Selects National Winners of the 2022 Emerging Leader Awards Aimed at Making Lyme Disease Easy to Diagnose and Simple to Cure

2021 Emerging Leader Awards

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Bay Area Lyme Foundation Selects National Winners of the 2022 Emerging Leader Awards Aimed at Making Lyme Disease Easy to Diagnose and Simple to Cure

Winners Nichole Pedowitz PhD, of Stanford University and Peter Gwynne PhD, of Tufts University will focus on developing novel diagnostic tests that can identify patients with Lyme disease

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., August 9, 2022—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, announces the recipients of the 2022 Emerging Leader Awards (ELA), which are designed to support promising scientists who are advancing development of accurate and effective diagnostic tests. Both awardees this year are focused on diagnostics, which is particularly important as the current gold standard diagnostic test has been shown to be insensitive in up to 60% of early-stage disease. 

This year’s winners are Nichole Pedowitz, PhD, of Stanford University, who will receive $100,000 for her work to develop a new rapid diagnostic to directly test for the bacteria that causes Lyme disease and Peter Gwynne, PhD, of Tufts University, who will receive $100,000 to further identify antibodies which may be markers of persistent Lyme disease infection.

“The lack of a reliable test for Lyme disease makes it not only impossible to ensure that patients receive prompt, appropriate care but also challenging for scientists and clinicians to evaluate emerging treatments,” said Linda Giampa, executive director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “Our hope is that Drs. Pedowitz and Gwynne will make strides toward the development of diagnostic tests that will be effective in identifying Lyme patients at various stages of the disease.”

Calling All Scientists: Bay Area Lyme Foundation Now Accepting Applications for 2022 Emerging Leader Award

ELA winner Michael Rout

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Calling All Scientists: Bay Area Lyme Foundation Now Accepting Applications for 2022 Emerging Leader Award 

Grant aims to inspire new research for the diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease

PORTOLA VALLEY, California, December 6, 2021—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, is announcing a call for entries for their 2022 Emerging Leader Awards (ELA), which recognize U.S. researchers from academia or the private sector who bring new approaches to the field of Lyme disease and embody the future of Lyme disease research leadership. At least two grants in the amount $100,000 each will be awarded. Proposals must have a defined scientific approach and rationale that can advance diagnostics or treatments for Lyme disease, and applicants are encouraged to bring innovative learnings from other therapeutic areas to their research projects. Applications will be accepted through March 15, 2022, at midnight Pacific Time. The full criteria and application for this grant award can be found here.

“The world is seeing firsthand the damage that infections can cause—both in acute and chronic forms. Just has COVID has encouraged collaboration, we hope that existing Lyme scientists as well as scientists from other disease areas will apply for this grant, offering new hypotheses and technologies to diagnose and treat Lyme and other tick-borne disease,” said Wendy Adams, research grant director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. 

Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s LymeAid® Brings Together an Enthusiastic Crowd to Celebrate Momentum in Infectious Disease Research

Bay Area Lyme Board of Directors at LymeAid 2021

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Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com

 

Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s LymeAid® Brings Together an Enthusiastic Crowd to Celebrate Momentum in Infectious Disease Research

Dana Carvey and Pop Rocks featuring Mark McGrath energized the supportive audience of scientists, clinicians, patients and philanthropists gathered to advance promising Lyme research 

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., September 20, 2021—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the United States, hosted its preeminent event, LymeAid, this weekend, its first in-person event since 2019. The event celebrated ongoing research of tick-borne disease, acknowledged important learnings from COVID-19 and pointed to the great need for the advancement of these efforts. Even with smaller numbers to allow for social distancing, LymeAid raised $650,000 of which 100 percent goes directly to fund scientific research, education and prevention programs for Lyme disease. Lyme disease is a potentially disabling infection diagnosed in nearly half a million Americans each year.

Emmy-award winning comedian Dana Carvey, was the Master of Ceremonies and received a standing ovation for his live performance, his first in 20 months. And, Pop Rocks featuring Mark McGrath delivered an outstanding show that got everyone dancing.

A leading U.S. expert on COVID-19 Charles Chiu, MD, PhD, of the University of California, San Francisco presented insights and research related to the similarities between COVID-19 and Lyme disease, including the difficulties in diagnosing each disease.