Bottom-up community launches “Lyme Innovation.” Patients, entrepreneurs, non-profit leaders, and academics organized a series of Lyme Innovation hackathons and events. These bottom-up efforts created new momentum while welcoming all stakeholders. Patients and practitioners worked side-by-side to accelerate innovation in Lyme disease diagnostics, treatment, and information-sharing across top-tier universities, using open data, open science, open innovation, and open source code.

Lyme Innovation inspires Congressional action. The 21st Century Cures Act authorized the Tick-Borne Disease Working Group (TBDWG) within HHS.

TBDWG established. For the first time, the TBDWG brought together federal and public members to review government efforts and scientific research to make shared recommendations on advancing the field.

TBDWG delivers. TBDWG produced its first report with 28 recommendations to the U.S. Congress and HHS Secretary in 2018.

HHS launches its Lyme Innovation initiative. The Federal government and HHS announced the new initiative to connect the bottom-up community needs and momentum with top-down, federal priorities and resources in response to the 2018 TBDWG report. 

HHS hosts the Lyme Innovation Roundtable. To facilitate information-sharing and feedback from stakeholders, including patients, advocates, providers, clinicians, researchers, and policy makers, HHS conducted a Lyme Innovation Roundtable and published a summary report with actionable recommendations for the Lyme disease community.

HHS takes part in the U.S. Census Bureau’s TOP Health tech sprint. The TOP Health tech sprint gave participants 14 weeks to tackle health-related challenges, including “How can we address Lyme and other tick-borne diseases through emerging technologies by coupling the power of the crowd and patient insights with data?” The sprint resulted in these tangible innovations: CURA Patient, Lyme Symptom Tracker app, TickTickBOOM!, and the TickTracker app.

Lyme Innovation on Capitol Hill. Non-profit organizations honored members of Congress and HHS staff for their strong support of efforts to address Lyme and other tick-borne diseases. Lyme Innovation took center stage, with several of the initiative’s leaders receiving awards for outstanding efforts in advancing tools, technologies, and information-sharing resources relevant to these illnesses.

LymeX announcement at LymeMIND Conference. HHS and the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation announce the formation of LymeX, the world’s largest Lyme disease public-private partnership.

LymeX launches the Health+ Lyme Disease cycle. Starting from the viewpoint of patient-centered innovation, the LymeX Health+ (“health plus”) team completed almost 700 hours of interviews, listening sessions, and workshops.

LymeX releases Request for Information (RFI). LymeX released an RFI to understand the current landscape and emerging technologies to improve Lyme disease diagnostics, receiving 32 responses from the public on how research and investments in rapidly developed COVID-19 diagnostics might be adapted or repurposed for Lyme and tick-borne diseases.

LymeX hosts Bridging the Gap Roundtable. More than 1,500 viewers watched the LymeX Roundtable: Bridging the Trust Gap, featuring inclusive strategies and emerging technologies for tick-borne diseases. Afterward, approximately 70 participants—including patients, doctors, researchers, and policymakers—explored ways to improve cooperation and communication with a resulting report.

LymeX Education and Awareness “Healthathon.” The Healthathon (similar to a hackathon, but as a health-focused sprint) called on the public to create educational materials to raise awareness about tick-borne disease prevention and help others benefit from the latest scientific findings. Participants from all walks of life, including two winning K-12 innovators, helped lead by example with Lyme Innovation progress. The LymeX Education and Awareness Healthathon resulted in five winners, including two K-12 innovators, whose work was socialized on YouTube and social media.

LymeX announces partnerships with the NASA Center of Excellence for Collaborative Innovation (CoECI) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Partnerships with these two agencies represent a multidisciplinary effort to address the complex challenges presented by Lyme disease. The LymeX and NASA CoECI collaboration’s goal is to accelerate the development of Lyme disease diagnostic tests. The DARPA collaboration is related to early-detection methods that improve the federal response to infectious diseases.

LymeX makes prelaunch announcement of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. An optional Letters of Intent period for interested parties launched on challenge.gov.

AcademyHealth includes Lyme disease in the 2022 Health Equity DataJam. AcademyHealth’s public call to transform HHS data into digital tools, insights, and innovation for real-world impact includes a track on Lyme disease and health equity.

HHS releases National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Vector-Borne Diseases RFI. HHS released an RFI to invite comments and suggestions on the National Strategy for the Prevention and Control of Vector-Borne Diseases (VBDs). The strategy represents the Federal Government’s priorities for addressing vector-borne disease threats.

LymeX launches the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. Phase 1 called on scientific, technical, and clinical experts to submit innovative methods for detecting active Lyme disease infections in people. Submissions were accepted from May 17 to August 8, 2022.

LymeX announces 10 Phase 1 winners in the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. From May to August 2022, Phase 1 received 52 solutions for detecting active Lyme disease infections in people. The winners received $100,000 each and an invitation to participate in the second phase.

LymeX launches Phase 2 of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. The 10 winning teams from Phase 1 were invited to participate in the Phase 2 virtual accelerator. The accelerator offered the cohort access to virtual learning, mentorship, biorepository subject matter expertise, and networking opportunities designed to help the teams progress toward FDA review.

AcademyHealth includes Lyme disease in the 2023 Health Equity DataJam. AcademyHealth’s public call to transform HHS data into digital tools, insights, and innovation for real-world impact includes a track on Lyme disease.

LymeX announces 5 Phase 2 winners in the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. From January to September 2023, 10 teams participated in a virtual accelerator designed to help them refine their concepts for detecting active Lyme disease infections in people. The winners received $265,000 each.

HHS releases the National Public Health Strategy to Prevent and Control Vector-Borne Diseases in People. Co-led by the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the strategy identifies and describes federal priorities to detect, prevent, respond to, and control diseases and conditions caused by vectors in the United States.

LymeX launches Phase 3 of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize. Six teams from Phase 2 were invited to plan clinical performance studies for validating their proposed solutions. Phase 3 offers access to webinar modules, mentorship, and networking opportunities.