Lyme disease, if treated early, can usually be successfully eradicated with antibiotics. Unfortunately, as many patients know, if it is not diagnosed early, it can cause debilitating sickness and a myriad of symptoms that are much harder to treat. And not all treatments are covered by insurance, making the whole experience potentially very financially as well as physically draining.
lyme disease treatment
CRISPR Technology: A New Approach to Eradicating Borrelia
Dr. Chase Beisel is an Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University who was recognized earlier this year with one of Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s prestigious Emerging Leader Awards. This honor is in recognition of and support for his lab‘s novel work exploring CRISPR technology as a potential treatment for Lyme infections.
Dr. Beisel’s work integrates molecular biology, chemical engineering, and mathematical modeling and has been acknowledged with several National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute for Health (NIH) and other important awards. His foray into the field of Lyme is a new direction for his lab and ties directly to the Foundation’s aim of attracting some of the brightest and best minds in the country to apply innovative new approaches and methodology to accelerate the development of new diagnostics and treatments for Lyme disease. We are excited about his work and asked him to elaborate further in this recent conversation.
Bay Area Lyme Foundation Announces Winners of “Lyme Innovation” Hackathon at White House Event
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Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
Bay Area Lyme Foundation Announces Winners of “Lyme Innovation” Hackathon at White House Event
White House Acknowledges Contributions of Program Organizers
Toward Solving Challenges of Lyme Disease
(Cambridge, MA,) October 5, 2016 — As part of the White House Open Data Innovation Summit, Bay Area Lyme Foundation, collaborating with the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network’s Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness, Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, MIT Hacking Medicine, University of California, Berkeley, and the Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation, announces the winning teams of Lyme Innovation. Lyme Innovation is the first ever Hackathon for Lyme disease, which provided a forum for more than 100 scientists, clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors from a variety of disciplines to brainstorm solutions for this potentially devastating disease.
Had a Good Day? Call in Sick.
Wednesday evening September 14th, Jordan Fisher Smith, Lyme patient, former National Park Service (NPS) ranger and US Forest Service firefighter, narrator of the Lyme documentary Under Our Skin, freelance writer, and author of bestselling books, Nature Noir: A Park Ranger’s Patrol in the Sierra and Engineering Eden: The True Story of a Violent Death, a Trial, and the Fight Over Controlling Nature, was the latest to grace the Bay Area Lyme stage as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series. This free public series features noted scientists, health professionals, and Lyme advocates in intimate salon-style settings, where audience members can ask questions and get answers about the latest in Lyme disease research, treatments, and policy news. And sometimes, it’s just about sharing stories and insights.
This week’s presentation was just that — a moving discussion of Jordan’s personal experience and reflections battling Lyme disease, what he describes as the toughest 9 1/2 years and biggest struggle of his life (and this from a man who nearly lost his life during blizzard conditions on the top of Mt. Shasta!).
Bay Area Lyme Foundation Announces Finalists of “Lyme Innovation” Hackathon
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Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
Bay Area Lyme Foundation Announces Finalists of “Lyme Innovation” Hackathon
Event brings together research from other therapeutic areas and disciplines to collaborate in development of solutions
Cambridge, MA, June 24, 2016 – Bay Area Lyme Foundation, collaborating with the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network’s Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness, Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, MIT Hacking Medicine, University of California, Berkeley, and the Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation, today announced the five finalists of Lyme Innovation, the first ever Hackathon for Lyme disease. More than 100 scientists, clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors from several US states registered for this event to brainstorm solutions for Lyme disease, a potentially devastating condition newly infecting 329,000 people each year.
“Collaboration is the key to solving the myriad of challenges of Lyme disease, and we were excited to have the participation of so many researchers new to Lyme research,” said Wendy Adams, Science Committee, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “It has been exciting to see such a wide range of expertise and enthusiasm come together to focus on solutions for this serious disease.”
KTVU Channel 2 Fox News Discusses Lyme Disease in the Bay Area
On May 27th, Lia Gaertner, a member of our science committee, and her husband, Sunjya Schweig, MD, discussed tick-borne disease prevention and Lyme disease treatments on KTVU Fox News in San Francisco. Many thanks to Lia and Sunjya for their valuable help with our awareness and education programs.
Hope, Faith, and Perseverance — How One Family Overcame Lyme Disease
Bay Area author and noted documentary filmmaker Eliza Hemenway recently turned her journalistic eye toward her own family to document a notably personal and tryingly poignant story about her family’s trials with Lyme disease and the baffling enigma that surrounds the illness and its treatment. Her daughter, Katherine, just seven years old when infected, suffered for years before successfully being diagnosed. And even after diagnosis, the family struggled to get the care they needed.
“I am a Bay Area mother who wrote Paris in Oakland to be a story of hope and encouragement to the Lyme community, something I desperately needed when my daughter was first diagnosed and I was trying to understand the controversies and confusion surrounding Lyme.
Experts Hack for Lyme Disease Solutions in Boston and Berkeley
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Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
Experts Hack for Lyme Disease Solutions in Boston and Berkeley
Bay Area Lyme Foundation Supports the First Hackathon for Lyme Disease to Inspire Innovation
Silicon Valley, CA, April 18, 2016— To inspire innovation to help solve the challenges of Lyme disease, Bay Area Lyme Foundation, collaborating with the Spaulding Rehabilitation Network’s Dean Center for Tick Borne Illness, Harvard Medical School Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, MIT Hacking Medicine, University of California, Berkeley, and the Veterans Affairs Center for Innovation, is supporting Lyme Innovation, the first ever Hackathon for Lyme disease, a potentially devastating condition newly infecting 329,000 people each year. Scientists, clinicians, researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors from both U.S. coasts participated in this innovative event, which kicked off this weekend, and will continue in Cambridge June 17 – 19, at the Microsoft Nerd Center.
California Strains of Lyme Bacteria May Survive Antibiotic Treatment, According to New Study
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Media Contact:
Tara DiMilia, 908-947-0500, tara.dimilia@TMstrat.com
California Strains of Lyme Bacteria May Survive Antibiotic Treatment, According to New Study
This new study funded by Bay Area Lyme Foundation identifies 20 FDA-approved compounds that are more effective in inhibiting persistent Lyme bacteria than standard treatment
Silicon Valley, CA, April 6, 2016—A laboratory study published today, funded by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation, is the first study to demonstrate that strains of Lyme bacteria present in California ticks are able to form persister bacteria, which do not respond well to treatment. The study is also the first to identify FDA-approved therapies that may be more effective in inhibiting these specific strains of persister bacteria in the lab than doxycycline, the most commonly prescribed treatment for Lyme disease. The study was conducted by Stanford School of Medicine researchers and published in the Open Access publication Drug Design, Development and Therapy. View full study here: http://www.dovepress.com/articles.php?article_id=26319
Recovering From Lyme: A New Perspective
Theresa Wiles is a PSYCH-K® facilitator in Northern California. Her work involves helping patients to leverage their subconscious beliefs for positive outcomes. “Changing our thought patterns changes our ‘Field’ and we begin to create the reality we envision for ourselves. We start to act more intuitively, we experience more serendipity in our lives. The Universe and our subconscious mind starts assisting us in creating the life we envision for ourselves.”
Here, in this guest post, she shares a perspective about how these techniques might assist in the healing of long-term Lyme disease.