As we mark Lyme Illness Consciousness Month this Might, HHS is proud to have a good time the 10 groups collaborating in Section 2 of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. The final word aim of HHS and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Basis’s LymeX Innovation Accelerator (LymeX) competitors is to nurture the event of diagnostics towards Meals and Drug Administration assessment.
The present two-tier antibody testing system—initially developed in 1994 for illness surveillance, not as a stand-alone diagnostic check—depends on the presence of antibodies and might solely be used precisely 4 to 6 weeks after the affected person turns into contaminated.
Accelerating innovation by money prizes and professional assets
Via September 2023, ten groups are collaborating within the Section 2 digital accelerator, which gives entry to digital studying, mentorship, biorepository material experience, and networking alternatives. With prior work in areas starting from sepsis to genetic sequencing and glycomics, the accelerator cohort is making use of a broad vary of experience to their proposed next-generation diagnostics.
By utilizing a prize competitors mannequin, the LymeX Diagnostics Prize gives money prizes alongside a spread of non-monetary assets. The competitors is designed to stimulate the marketplace for Lyme illness diagnostics by serving to entrants overcome diagnostic growth boundaries with prize funds and technical help—whereas additionally fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Enhancing testing accessibility is essential to enhancing affected person outcomes, and groups are already starting to contemplate the problem with the assistance of scientific research and system design assets. Over the summer season, the cohort will take part in roundtable discussions with sufferers and clinicians as they refine their ideas.   Â
The LymeX Diagnostics Prize is setting a brand new bar for innovation in illness diagnostics. If exams are efficiently validated, the cohort’s work might assist enhance Lyme illness remedy general—in addition to exams for different infectious illnesses.Â
Trying forward: Professional judging panel to convene in October 2023
Following the accelerator, the cohort will submit idea papers that element answer refinement, scientific and affected person enter, and a roadmap from lab to market.
The competitors judging panel—composed of specialists throughout biology, scientific and expertise translation, affected person expertise and advocacy, diagnostic science and expertise, exponential innovation, and ethics—will consider eligible submissions in response to official Section 2 analysis standards. Primarily based on the judges’ evaluations, they are going to advocate as much as 5 Section 2 winners of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize.
The Steven & Alexandra Cohen Basis has made a beneficiant $10 million pledge to the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. HHS and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Basis awarded $1 million in Section 1 of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize, with $9 million in extra LymeX prizes projected to be out there in future phases, together with Section 2. A number of accelerator assets can be made out there to the general public on the competitors web site to assist broader innovation in Lyme illness diagnostics and remedy.
To obtain all Section 2 updates, subscribe to the LymeX Diagnostics Prize e-newsletter and observe @Lyme_X on Twitter.
