Fueling the Research Engine

Lyme Disease Biobank
By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

BAL Leading the Way Series

 

How a chance meeting and the harnessing of big data led to a research initiative that’s finding answers in Lyme and tick-borne disease

Many different groups comprise the Lyme disease community including patients, their families, healthcare providers, researchers and nonprofit organizations. These nonprofit organizations and foundations may differ in size, structure, fiscal basis, focus and approach, but in one important aspect they are united: the search for answers.

This search for answers in the realm of Lyme and tick-borne diseases has served as a unifying driver, even when dissent and controversy has sometimes fragmented the Lyme community.  And despite what seems to be a constant uphill battle for recognition and legitimacy of Lyme and tick-borne infections, many believe that we’re on the brink of major breakthroughs to help patients and doctors unlock the medical mysteries that make these infectious diseases so confounding. Two people cautiously optimistic about where we are in the search for answers about Lyme are Liz Horn, PhD, MBI, Principal Investigator, Lyme Disease Biobank, and Lorraine Johnson, JD, MBA, Chief Executive Officer, LymeDisease.org and Principal Investigator MyLymeData.

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Funds $8M in Tick-borne Disease Research During the Pandemic

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Funds $8M in Tick-borne Disease Research During the Pandemic
By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Funds $8M in Tick-borne Disease Research During the Pandemic

Foundation Embraces National Focus on Infectious Diseases as Education Tool

PORTOLA VALLEY, CA, January 25, 2021—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, today announced that the organization has raised more than $8 million since the beginning of the pandemic of which 100% will be used directly for research and education programs focused on achieving its mission of making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure. In 2022, Bay Area Lyme will mark its 10th anniversary, and throughout this year will be reflecting on a decade of achievements by the foundation and the Lyme community while acknowledging the significant challenges that still lie ahead. 

“Although the pandemic presented us with many extraordinary hurdles, it also helped people understand the complicated aspects of infectious diseases—including the importance of accurate diagnostics, the role of antibodies, and the power of effective treatments—all of which are—and continue to be—huge factors in our fight against Lyme and tick-borne diseases,” said Linda Giampa, executive director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “The similarities between Lyme and COVID-19 clearly show the critical nature of scientific pursuit, progress and education. The foundation demonstrates consistent, measurable progress unlocking the mysteries of tick-borne diseases, which remain one of the most important health crises of our time.”

How Do You Build a Biobank to Solve the Problem of Lyme Disease? Literally – One Tick Bite at a Time

Lyme Disease Biobank
By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Science is all about asking questions and finding answers. It attracts the curious, the driven, the questioners and fact seekers—the people who won’t accept the status quo and who are always pushing to learn more. If we keep asking science the right questions, we’re bound to get to the right answers eventually. It’s simple, right?

Unfortunately, not. As with everything about Lyme disease the answers to the questions are not so simple. Lyme is a complicated, nuanced disease with many challenging attributes, so much so that even the most experienced clinicians and medical researchers struggle to understand the many ways the infection impacts the human body. So, if you’re going to try and solve the puzzle of Lyme disease, where is the best place to start? How do you get all the pieces in place to move the needle to solve the complexity of this disease?

Enter Bay Area Lyme Foundation and Principal Investigator, Liz Horn PhD, MBI. When they were planning this project, they asked research scientists in the field of Lyme disease what were their big obstacles to finding out more about Lyme? What did scientists need so that they could start chipping away at the conundrum of this horrible disease?

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Launches Ticktective™ Podcast

Ticktective Podcasts
By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Bay Area Lyme Foundation Launches Ticktective™ Podcast

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., September 30, 2020 — Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, announces the launch of the Ticktective podcast and video series.  Ticktective is a Bay Area Lyme Foundation program designed to investigate the latest scientific knowledge and advances in Lyme and tick-borne diseases. The podcast offers insightful discussion with researchers, physicians, patients, and thought leaders in the field.

“Because the science surrounding tick-borne disease is so complex and there are so many unanswered questions, Ticktective aims to share firsthand perspectives about the challenges of Lyme in ways that will intrigue more scientists, physicians and patients to join our battle towards making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure,” said Linda Giampa, executive director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

There are more than 400,000 people diagnosed with Lyme disease each year in the US, and millions of Americans live with persistent Lyme disease (PLD) caused by an ongoing bacterial infection. The current “gold standard” diagnostic for Lyme disease misses up to 60% of cases of early stage Lyme disease, and if not treated promptly, Lyme may progress to a debilitating stage, becoming difficult, or impossible, to cure. Bay Area Lyme Foundation has funded over 100 research projects at 37 institutions across the US in a mission to find solutions for these patients.

Jacob Lemieux, MD, DPhil and Artem Rogovskyy, DVM, PhD Named Recipients of Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s 2020 Emerging Leader Award

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Jacob Lemieux, MD, DPhil and Artem Rogovskyy, DVM, PhD Named Recipients of Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s 2020 Emerging Leader Award

Biobank Samples to Aid 2020 Emerging Leader Award Winners in Discovery of New Rapid and Sensitive Diagnostics for Lyme Disease Testing

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., August 11, 2020 — Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the U.S., announces the recipients of the 2020 Emerging Leader Awards, which are designed to support promising scientists who represent the future of Lyme disease-research leadership. Jacob Lemieux, MD, DPhil of Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital, and Artem Rogovskyy, DVM, PhD of Texas A&M University will each receive $100,000 toward the development of novel direct-detection diagnostic approaches for Lyme disease. Both researchers will utilize biological samples from the Lyme Disease Biobank, a program of the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, working to accelerate research of Lyme disease and other tick-borne infections. Lyme disease is a potentially disabling infection impacting more than 400,000 Americans each year.

“The value of research proposed by our grant recipients is vital to our mission of making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure.  In this year of COVID-19, we are pleased to have the opportunity to continue our grant program to fund the important work of these scientists addressing the most crucial requirement for Lyme disease – an accurate diagnostic test,” said Linda Giampa, executive director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

Lyme Biobanking & Lyme Diagnostics

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

Liz Horn, PhD, MBI

Principal Investigator for the Bay Area Lyme Disease Biobank, Liz Horn, PhD, MBI, discusses the Biobank which has enrolled over 900 participants, supporting over 50 research projects so far. They support research projects across the nation by providing precious serum, whole blood, urine and tissue samples to researchers. Ticktective Video and Podcast Editor: Kiva Schweig.

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Journal of Clinical Microbiology Publishes First Study Using Samples from the Lyme Disease Biobank

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

Journal of Clinical Microbiology Publishes First Study Using Samples from the Lyme Disease Biobank

More Than 40 Research Projects Have Now Used Samples from Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s Lyme Disease Biobank

PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/—Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the U.S., today announced that a study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology reports a potential new diagnostic, mChip-Ld, which can be performed in 15 minutes in a physician’s office, offers efficacy improvement over the current gold standard diagnostic, the two-tier test, and may be able to identify a patient’s Lyme disease stage. The research study, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, was made possible, in part, by blood samples provided by Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s Lyme Disease Biobank (LDB). LDB is a program of Bay Area Lyme Foundation (BAL), and is supported by donations from multiple sources including the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation.

“Our research toward developing rapid diagnostic assays for Lyme disease is impossible to carry out without having access to laboratory confirmed physician-characterized blood samples,” said study author Maria Gomes-Solecki, DVM, associate professor at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center. “In the past, a limited set of well-characterized Lyme disease samples could be obtained from the CDC. The BAL Lyme Disease Biobank provides another much-needed option in that regard.”

Bay Area Lyme Foundation and Project Lyme Join Forces to Fight Lyme Disease at the 2018 Lyme Gala

By Bay Area Lyme Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

 

Bay Area Lyme Foundation and Project Lyme Join Forces to Fight Lyme Disease at the 2018 Lyme Gala

Event Raises Awareness, and $1.4 Million for Research Related to Lyme Disease and other tick-borne illnesses, which can potentially be disabling, and even life-threatening

New York, NY, November 6, 2018 – Bay Area Lyme Foundation and Project Lyme, two organizations committed to halting the course of Lyme disease, came together to highlight the need for collaboration in the fight against Lyme during the inaugural 2018 Lyme Gala. The collaboration aims to improve awareness, education, and research of Lyme and other tick-borne infections, which can potentially be disabling, and even life-threatening. With Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s expertise working with scientists and institutions to implement valuable research, develop impactful educational programs and create novel initiatives such as the Lyme Disease Biobank, and Project Lyme’s focus on increasing awareness and improving education, these organizations hope to one day make Lyme and other tick-borne diseases easy to diagnose and simple to cure.

“Lyme disease is the most important health crisis of our time,” said 2018 Lyme Gala honoree, Bill Ford, CEO, General Atlantic. “This disease demands that we recruit and fund the best medical minds to fund a cure, and I am hopeful of the efforts of Project Lyme and Bay Area Lyme Foundation toward this goal.”