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Winner Chao Wang of Arizona State University will receive $150,000 to evaluate a unique diagnostic that uses gold nanoparticles and has been proven in other infectious diseases
PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., June 12, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, has given its 2025 Emerging Leader Award (ELA) to Chao Wang, PhD, associate professor in the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University, faculty with ASU's Biodesign Institute® and an expert in nanotechnology and biosensors. Wang will receive $150,000 to support his work to develop a much-needed rapid, low-cost, easy-to-use test, called Nano2RED-LD, for Lyme disease. The test aims to deliver results in as few as 30 minutes when a patient who may have Lyme disease first sees a doctor.
There is an immense need for better Lyme disease tests. Today's standard-of-care tests miss too many cases at all stages of Lyme disease, including as many as 70% of early Lyme cases.
"With Lyme disease cases rising steadily across the U.S., the need for accurate and timely diagnostic tools has never been greater,” said Katariina Tuovinen, research grant director, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. "Dr. Wang's pioneering work epitomizes the essence of this award as it applies innovation from other infectious diseases in an effort to enhance outcomes for patients affected by Lyme disease.”
This unique diagnostic system uses gold nanoparticles along with an innovative electronically driven data readout system that has shown promise in detecting Ebola and COVID-19, as well as detecting a Lyme protein called OppA2. The platform offers a novel combination of direct and indirect detection for Lyme disease as it detects both antigens and antibodies, producing a clear signal, with the intent to enhance detection. To automatically transmit the data, it leverages a circuit-integrated electronic readout that digitizes the gold nanoparticle signals for accurate and easy data analysis, further simplifying the use of the diagnostic system.
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Wang's ELA research project will use samples from Bay Area Lyme Foundation's Lyme Disease Biobank to measure sensitivity and specificity with positive and negative controls.
Wang first used Nano2RED-LD to detect Ebola and SARS-CoV-2 viruses, showing it could be about 1,000 times more sensitive than the commonly used ELISA test. Over the past two years, his lab has also demonstrated that Nano2RED-LD can detect the protein OppA2, a lipoprotein and part of a family of proteins in Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. For this research with OppA2, Wang has worked closely with Bay Area Lyme Foundation scientific advisory board member, Monica Embers, PhD, associate professor in the Division of Immunology at Tulane National Primate Research Center, and 2021 ELA winner, Michael Rout, PhD, professor and head of Laboratory of Cellular and Structural Biology at Rockefeller University.
"We believe collaboration between researchers is a key component driving innovative science and appreciate the support Dr. Wang is receiving from the community,” said Linda Giampa, executive director of Bay Area Lyme Foundation. "We are proud to see the extensive resources of our Lyme Disease Biobank being used for such important research, and we value the opportunity to support work that brings us closer to developing improved diagnostics for patients with Lyme disease.”
Previous Emerging Leader Award recipients have come from institutions, including Brandeis University, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Louisiana State University, North Carolina State University, Stanford University School of Medicine, Texas A&M, Tulane University, University of California San Francisco, Rockefeller University, Stanford University, Tufts University, and Northwestern University. Most of these projects were in the early stages of research, and the Emerging Leader Award enabled scientists to generate data required for ongoing support from Bay Area Lyme Foundation and/or government funding. Many findings have been accepted for presentation at well-respected scientific forums or are detailed in peer-reviewed papers.
Since its inception in 2014, the Emerging Leader Award has recognized scientists and researchers with innovative ideas to advance diagnostics or treatments for Lyme disease. Those interested in applying for the 2026 award or exploring additional funding opportunities offered by the Bay Area Lyme Foundation are encouraged to visit: https://www.bayarealyme.org/our-research/grant-process/.
About Lyme Disease
The most common vector-borne infectious disease in the US, Lyme disease is a potentially disabling infection caused by bacteria transmitted through the bite of an infected tick to people and pets, and can be potentially passed from a pregnant mother to her unborn baby. If caught early, most cases of Lyme disease can be effectively treated, but it is commonly misdiagnosed due to lack of awareness and inaccurate diagnostic tests. Based on the trajectory of Lyme disease cases documented by CDC between 2010 and 2018, Bay Area Lyme estimates that there are now more than 620,000 new cases of Lyme disease each year, and, as a result of the difficulty in diagnosing and treating Lyme disease, up to two million Americans may be suffering from the impact of its debilitating long-term symptoms and complications..
About Bay Area Lyme Foundation
Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national organization committed to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, is the leading public charity sponsor of innovative Lyme disease research in the US. A 501c3 organization based in Silicon Valley, Bay Area Lyme 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. Historically a pivotal donation from the LaureL STEM fund covered all overhead costs through 2024. In 2023 a Bay Area Lyme Endowment was formed which allows for 100% of all donor contributions to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation to go directly to research and prevention programs in perpetuity. For more information about Lyme disease or to get involved, visit www.bayarealyme.org or call us at 650-530-2439.
Media contact:
Tara DiMilia
Phone: 908-369-7168
