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  6. LymeSeq: An Advanced Diagnostic Assay Approach to Lyme Disease

LymeSeq: An Advanced Diagnostic Assay Approach to Lyme Disease

Description

The technology is an assay that detects and characterizes one or more Borrelia species causing Lyme disease or tick-borne relapsing fever (TBRF). The method involves subjecting the subject DNA and/or RNA from the sample to a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) amplification reaction using primer pairs targeting at least one region specific to the Borrelia genus, Borrelia burgdorferi, and non-Lyme Borrelia species. In addition, the PCR-amplified products are analyzed to detect one or more Borrelia species. Several methods of this assay have been developed, including amplicon-based sequencing, universal indexing sequencing, and systems of preparing samples for one or more downstream processes that can be used for assessing one or more markers.

Additional information

Patent number and inventor

16/076,608

Elizabeth Driebe, Paul Keim, David Engelthaler, Jolene Bowers, and Nate Nieto.

Potential applications

Clinical applications to detect Lyme disease.

Benefits and advantages

The assay addresses the challenges of co-infection that may confound test results, unspecific testing causing false positives on Lyme disease diagnostic tests, and the limited sensitivity available with other methods of detection.

Case number and licensing status

2016-031

This invention is available for licensing.