Bay Area Lyme Foundation Requests Proposals For $100,000 Grant For National Emerging Leader In Lyme Research

SILICON VALLEY, Calif., Oct. 20, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Bay Area Lyme Foundation, the leading nonprofit funder of innovative Lyme disease research in the US, today announced a call for applications for its 'Bay Area Lyme Foundation Emerging Leader Award' and accompanying $100,000 grant.  This award will be given to a promising scientist who embodies the future of leadership in Lyme disease research in the US.  The award recipient will be a researcher at the post-doctoral level through the Assistant Professor level, or equivalent, who has identified a defined approach to improved diagnostics or therapies for Lyme disease. Important criteria include demonstrated professional and scientific leadership in the biomedical sciences and a strong supporting scientific rationale for the project.  Research efforts are required to generate initial proof of concept within 12 - 18 months.

"While we fund a number of seasoned scientists throughout the year, we see this award as our opportunity to attract and cultivate future leaders of Lyme research," states Carin Rollins, member of Bay Area Lyme Foundation's Board of Directors and its science and research team. "The award offers opportunities to burgeoning scientists from any discipline to apply their insights, expertise and dedication towards finding a reliable diagnostic and desperately needed cure for Lyme."

The award, along with other Bay Area Lyme efforts, aims to fill a gap in Lyme research funding as Federal funding for Lyme disease is paltry.  While there are six times as many people diagnosed each year with Lyme than HIV, Lyme disease receives less than 1% of the public funding that is allocated for HIV/AIDS.

Previous Emerging Leader Award recipients include:

• Lisa K. Blum, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University School of Medicine, whose work on the immune response to Lyme disease has the potential to help elucidate why some people have short-term symptoms from a Lyme infection and why others become chronically ill, as well as the hope of leading to the development of an improved diagnostic and/or therapeutic.
• Jerome F. M. Bouquet, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Francisco, who is working to identify "biomarkers" that will allow for the development of a clinical diagnostic for both acute and post-treatment Lyme disease. Dr. Bouquet presented promising preliminary data at the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), an annual conference of the American Society for Microbiology, which took place last month.

Applications will be accepted from researchers throughout the United States through January 15, 2015. The full criteria and application for this award can be found at http://www.bayarealyme.org/research/emerging-leader-award.

About Lyme Disease

One of the most common infectious diseases in the country, Lyme disease is a potentially debilitating infection caused by bacteria transmitted through the bite of an infected tick to people and pets. If caught early, most cases of Lyme disease can be effectively treated, but it is commonly misdiagnosed due to lack of awareness and unreliable diagnostic tests. There are about 300,000 new cases of Lyme disease each year, 10 times more than previously reported, according to statistics released in 2013 by the CDC. As a result of the difficulty in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, as many as one 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 nonprofit organization committed to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, is the lead funder of innovative Lyme disease research in the US.  A national 501c3 nonprofit organization based in Silicon Valley, the 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.   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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SOURCE Bay Area Lyme Foundation