Global Lyme Alliance, Inc.

Our Mission: Cure Lyme and other tick-borne diseases through innovative research, awareness, and
empowering the patient voice.

Our Vision: A world free of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

GLA RESEARCH PROGRAM OVERVIEW

• We have funded nearly 50 scientists from academia and biotech companies.

• GLA-funded researchers have published more than 150 articles in over 70 scientific and medical peer-reviewed journals. These publications create ripples of change throughout the scientific community and propel vector-borne disease research forward

Understanding of the knowledge needs in medical research into Lyme disease
Familiar with the work of each leading scientist and research center making advances to scientific understanding of tick borne diseases
Highly qualified scientific review board including a Nobel prize winner
Capability to raise significant funds through private donors, corporate support and high-profile events

TRANSFORMATIVE DISCOVERIES RESULTING FROM GLA FUNDING
2015
Microbiology/Persistence: Kim Lewis, PhD (Distinguished Professor, Northeastern University) reported that Borrelia burgdorferi can tolerate exposure to certain antibiotics. Similar studies conducted by another GLA-backed researcher at Johns Hopkins University demonstrated that although the Lyme bacteria was tolerant of exposure to antibiotics, they were sensitive to and killed by certain herbal essential oils. This research lent support to the idea that persistence of bacteria might explain why some patients suffer from chronic symptoms of Lyme disease even after being treated.


2016
Innovative Diagnostics: GLA hosted a groundbreaking conference that brought together experts from the NIH, CDC, FDA, and academic researchers from around the country to discuss Diagnostic Tests for Lyme Disease. Their extensive discussions resulted in two foundational publications: One explained that the widely used FDA-approved, CDC two-tiered test for Lyme disease diagnosis was suboptimal and that new tests needed to be developed. The second argued the need for direct diagnostic testing of early Lyme patients. As a result, academic researchers as well as biotech and pharmaceutical companies have begun development of a new generation of Lyme diagnostics tests.

2017
Clinical Studies: Post-treatment Lyme disease (PTLD) represents a subset of patients who remain ill following standard antibiotic therapy. As part of the SLICE study, Dr. Aucott was the first to use physical exam and clinical laboratory testing coupled with standardized symptom questionnaires to identify and characterize this unique and growing patient population. Dr. Aucott’s work has profoundly advanced our understanding of persistent Lyme disease by clearly defining the clinical features of PTLD patients.
2018
Neurological Lyme disease: Brian Fallon, MD (Director, Columbia University Lyme and Tick-borne Disease Research Center) collaborated with Michael Benros, MD (Head, Biological and Precision Psychiatry at Mental Health Centre Copenhagen, Denmark) and published a groundbreaking study of >12,000 Lyme disease patients in whom rates of mental and affective disorders, suicide attempts, and suicide were significantly higher than patients without Lyme.

2019
Clinical Studies: Accumulating Numbers of PTLD Cases: Despite the negative impact of PTLD on an individual’s quality of life, no systematic attempt to calculate the number of these patients had ever been undertaken. To better understand the scope of the problem, GLA teamed up with Brown University to use mathematical models to estimate the PTLD population to be as many as ~two million patients by the end of 2020.

2021
Microbiology Persistence: Monica Embers, PhD (National Primate Research Center, Tulane University) found Lyme bacteria in post-mortem brain tissue of a chronic, neurological Lyme patient who was treated with antibiotics.
Please visit: GLA.org for more information.