HHS Shines Highlight on Diagnostic Innovation Throughout Lyme Illness
As we mark Lyme Illness Consciousness Month this Could, HHS is proud to have a good time the 10 teams participating in Phase 2 of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. The last 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 overview.
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 means of money prizes and professional assets
By way of September 2023, ten groups are taking part within the Section 2 digital accelerator, which provides 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 provides 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 limitations with prize funds and technical help—whereas additionally fostering cross-disciplinary collaboration.
Bettering testing accessibility is vital to enhancing affected person outcomes, and groups are already starting to think about the difficulty with the assistance of scientific research and gadget design assets. Over the summer time, the cohort will take part in roundtable discussions with sufferers and clinicians as they refine their ideas.
The LymeX Diagnostics Prize is setting a brand new bar for innovation in illness diagnostics. If exams are efficiently validated, the cohort’s work may assist enhance Lyme illness therapy general—in addition to exams for different infectious illnesses.
Trying forward: Knowledgeable judging panel to convene in October 2023
Following the accelerator, the cohort will submit idea papers that element resolution 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 keeping with official Phase 2 evaluation criteria. Based mostly 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 further LymeX prizes projected to be out there in future phases, together with Section 2. A collection of accelerator assets might be made out there to the general public on the competition website to help broader innovation in Lyme illness diagnostics and therapy.
To obtain all Section 2 updates, subscribe to the LymeX Diagnostics Prize newsletter and follow @Lyme_X on Twitter.
