image: Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national organization committed to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, is a leading public not-for-profit sponsor of innovative Lyme disease research in the US. Bay Area Lyme Foundation collaborates with world-class scientists and institutions to accelerate medical breakthroughs for Lyme disease. www.bayarealyme.org
Credit: Bay Area Lyme Foundation
PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., October 31, 2024 - Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the U.S., invites innovative researchers from academia and the private sector to apply for the 2025 Emerging Leader Awards (ELA). These awards recognize those advancing novel approaches in Lyme disease diagnostics and treatments, while embodying the future of Lyme disease research leadership. This year, in its tenth anniversary, Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s ELA will present two $150,000 awards for researchers who are at the post-doctoral level through associate professor level or equivalent.
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 in addition to those who have previously investigated Lyme disease. Applications will be accepted through March 7, 2025 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/.
“The global impact of both acute and chronic infections has never been more apparent, and tackling an infectious disease as complex as Lyme requires innovative approaches and concerted efforts to drive progress in diagnostics and treatment,” said Wendy Adams, research grant director Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “Our goal with the Emerging Leader Award is to inspire ambitious and creative scientists to take on the challenge of advancing accurate diagnostics and effective therapeutics for various stages of tick-borne diseases.”
Over the past decade, the Emerging Leader Award has been a catalyst for future research that increases the scope of investigation in Lyme disease and aids in developing better diagnostics and treatments. Bay Area Lyme Foundation remains committed to explore novel, scientifically well-founded concepts with potential utility toward that goal. The ELA has paved the way for recipients to receive grants from other renowned entities, including the NIH, in addition to continued support from Bay Area Lyme Foundation.
Applicants are required to demonstrate professional and scientific leadership in the biomedical sciences and a strong supporting scientific rationale, and efforts funded by this award must generate initial proof of concept within 12-24 months. Applicants must submit an application, research proposal, and at least one supporting letter from their supervising manager or Principal Investigator.
The most recent ELA winner, Trever Smith, PhD, Research Assistant Professor of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at Tufts University School of Medicine, is developing a first-of-its-kind drug interaction compendium to help prioritize the most effective combinations for testing in pre-clinical models of Lyme disease. Past ELA recipients have come from institutions including Brandeis University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Boston Children's Hospital, Tufts University, Louisiana State University, North Carolina State University, Stanford University School of Medicine, and the University of California, San Francisco.
For more information or questions about the application process, please contact the foundation offices at award@bayarealyme.org or 650.530.2439. Applications should be submitted to award@bayarealyme.org. Bay Area Lyme Foundation also funds additional research outside of the ELA program and more information can be found at www.bayarealyme.org/our-research/grant-process/.
About Lyme disease
The most common vector-borne infectious disease in the US, Lyme disease is a potentially disabling infection caused by bacteria transmitted through the bite of an infected tick to people and pets, and may also be passed from a pregnant mother to her unborn baby. If caught early, most cases of Lyme disease can be effectively treated, but it is commonly misdiagnosed due to lack of awareness and inaccurate diagnostic tests. There are approximately 500,000 new cases of Lyme disease each year, according to statistics released in 2018 by the CDC. As a result of the difficulty in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, up to two million Americans may be suffering from the impact of its debilitating long-term symptoms and complications, according to Bay Area Lyme Foundation estimates.
About Bay Area Lyme Foundation
Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national organization committed to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, is the leading public not-for-profit sponsor of innovative Lyme disease research in the US. A 501c3 organization based in Silicon Valley, Bay Area Lyme Foundation collaborates with world-class scientists and institutions to accelerate medical breakthroughs for Lyme disease. It is also dedicated to providing reliable, fact-based information so that prevention and the importance of early treatment are common knowledge. A pivotal donation from The LaureL STEM FUND covers overhead costs and allows for 100% of all donor contributions to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation to go directly to research and prevention programs. For more information about Lyme disease or to get involved, visit www.bayarealyme.org or call us at 650-530-2439.
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