PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., Sept. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the US, today announced the launch of Bay Area Lyme Ventures (Lyme Ventures), a bold new impact fund that is the first designed to attract and drive investment to promising tick-borne diagnostics and therapeutics nearing commercialization. By bringing together strategic research investments, collaborative partnerships, and patient-focused resources, Lyme Ventures aims to advance innovative diagnostics and therapeutics to fill significant gaps that exist in medical care. Today, the fund announces investments in Aces Diagnostics and LymeAlert, both of which are designed to help people bitten by ticks navigate the complicated process of getting an accurate diagnosis.

“This new chapter expands Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s commitment to accelerating innovative diagnostics and therapeutic breakthroughs, as there is an extreme scarcity of support for entrepreneurs and companies developing accurate solutions for patients and clinicians in tick-borne disease,” said Linda Giampa, who led Bay Area Lyme Foundation for the past 12 years and is now the founder and managing director of Bay Area Lyme Ventures.

Lyme Ventures will complement Bay Area Lyme Foundation’s continued commitment to funding scientific research by advancing promising discoveries into clinical development and, ultimately, through commercialization. To date, Bay Area Lyme Foundation has granted more than $30 million toward research, while Lyme Ventures has a goal of investing $5 million by 2027 into companies working to bring solutions to market. Proceeds from these philanthropic investments will fund research projects at Bay Area Lyme Foundation.

"After more than a decade of funding cutting-edge academic research through Bay Area Lyme Foundation's efforts, Lyme Ventures is opening a door for us to now translate those breakthroughs into real world solutions—offering answers, hope, and healing to patients who have suffered for years from Lyme disease and its coinfections,” said Emily Fairbairn, a longtime supporter of Bay Area Lyme Foundation and one of the first funders of Bay Area Lyme Ventures.

Aces Diagnostics is developing LymeSeek, a diagnostic blood test kit that will be sold to laboratories and has demonstrated in verification studies an unprecedented 90% accuracy for early and disseminated Lyme disease. LymeSeek is led by a team of experienced researchers and advocates: Tammy Crawford, chief executive officer; Holly Ahern, MS, MT(ASCP), chief scientific officer; and Monica Embers, PhD, chief research officer. The team has had a long-standing research relationship with Bay Area Lyme Foundation and utilized samples from their Lyme Disease Biobank to advance LymeSeek.

“The epidemic of Lyme continues to be under-recognized outside of the Lyme community, making it particularly challenging to raise funds for innovative solutions such as our diagnostic kit, LymeSeek,” said Crawford. “With this partnership, we’re working to bring accurate, research-driven solutions to Lyme and other tick-borne disease patients who have long gone without answers.”

LymeAlert was founded by MIT Sloan Fellow MBA graduates Erin Dawicki, PA-C, co-founder and chief executive officer, Michelle Ewy, PhD, chief science officer, and Brenda Ong, chief operating officer. LymeAlert’s first product in development is an off-the-shelf, easy-to-use, at-home tick test for humans and pets.

"We are honored to receive support from Bay Area Lyme Ventures, whose commitment to accelerating innovation in Lyme disease research aligns perfectly with our mission at LymeAlert. Their investment aims to help us bring the world’s first at-home tick test to more communities, empowering people to detect Lyme disease at the moment of exposure—when intervention can make the greatest difference," said Dawicki.

Together, these initial investments mark a pivotal step forward in Lyme Venture’s mission to transform the landscape of Lyme disease diagnostics and therapeutics.

About Bay Area Lyme Ventures
As the only venture philanthropy fund devoted to advancing solutions for Lyme disease, Bay Area Lyme Ventures, a bold, new impact fund developed by Bay Area Lyme Foundation, is designed to fast-track the most promising Lyme and tick-borne disease diagnostics and therapeutics to market, ensuring that these vital solutions reach patients who need them most.

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 a lack of awareness and inaccurate diagnostic tests. There are more than 620,000 new cases of Lyme disease each year, according to Bay Area Lyme Foundation estimates. 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.

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