It is that time of year when we reflect and take stock of all that’s happened over the past 12 months – the highs and the highlights and what it portends for the year ahead. As we quickly approach the close of 2014, we are proud of the progress that has been made and grateful to all those who helped create greater awareness, understanding, and discovery around Lyme disease, its agents, and its progression. It has been a year of collaboration and innovation across the research field with promising developments for new treatments and diagnostics.
February 2014
Bay Area Lyme Study reports surprising distribution of Lyme-carrying ticks throughout the Bay Area alerting locals to the risk of this disease. Read more here.
March 2014
National summit convening most respected scientists and experts in the field vets plan for National Lyme Biorepository to increase the supply of quality samples available for medical research. Read more about the Biorepository here.
April 2014
BAL confers first two $100,000 Emerging Leader Awards recognizing two promising young scientists pursuing innovative Lyme research. Read more here.
LymeAid raises more than $500K for Lyme research at a benefit concert featuring The English Beat and a program highlighting major research initiatives at Bay Area Lyme Foundation. Read a recap here.
Provocative study led by a team of Bay Area Lyme scientists from Johns
Hopkins and Stanford University demonstrates how variations in immune responses to Lyme disease directly contribute to disease outcomes with encouraging implications for disease management. Read here for more about this work.
July 2014
HR 4701 Tick-Borne Disease Research Accountability and Transparency Act, better known as “the Lyme bill,” clears the US House of Representatives, recognizing Lyme disease as an important health issue in need of more research and federal support.Learn more here.
August 2014
Enterprising young student Shelby Anderson launches #lime4lyme challenge inviting folks to eat an entire lime and/or contribute to the cause! Read about it here.
September 2014
Hops & Harmony invites the community to learn more about Lyme disease in the greater Bay area at a community picnic and music festival. Read more here.
November 2014
Promise for a new diagnostic that can better detect the presence of Borrelia burgorferi and measure the impact of various treatment therapies from researchers at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. See here for more information.
A national scientific conference at Mass General Hospital, entitled “Lyme Borreliosis and Tick-Borne Illnesses: Diagnostics, Emerging Pathogens and Avenues for New Research,” brought more than 200 researchers and clinicians to Boston November 8 and 9 to discuss tick-borne diseases, share emerging ideas and knowledge, and assess the most promising avenues for research into the future. See here for more information.
December 2014
Bay Area Lyme announces a record-breaking $1.2 million in grants awarded this year, capping a three-year-to-date total of $2.4M helping to fill the gap in Lyme research and help fuel new breakthroughs in Lyme treatment and diagnosis. Read the release here.