As we mark Lyme Illness Consciousness Month this Might, HHS is proud to rejoice the 10 groups collaborating in Part 2 of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. The last word objective 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 take a look at—depends on the presence of antibodies and may solely be used precisely 4 to 6 weeks after the affected person turns into contaminated.
Accelerating innovation via money prizes and professional assets
By September 2023, ten groups are collaborating within the Part 2 digital accelerator, which affords entry to digital studying, mentorship, biorepository subject 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 affords 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.
Enhancing testing accessibility is essential to bettering affected person outcomes, and groups are already starting to think about 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.
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.
Wanting forward: Professional 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 consultants throughout biology, scientific and expertise translation, affected person expertise and advocacy, diagnostic science and expertise, exponential innovation, and ethics—will consider eligible submissions in accordance with official Part 2 analysis standards. Primarily based on the judges’ evaluations, they may suggest as much as 5 Part 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 Part 1 of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize, with $9 million in further LymeX prizes projected to be obtainable in future phases, together with Part 2. A collection of accelerator assets will probably be made obtainable to the general public on the competitors web site to help broader innovation in Lyme illness diagnostics and therapy.
To obtain all Part 2 updates, subscribe to the LymeX Diagnostics Prize publication and comply with @Lyme_X on Twitter.
