Richard T. Marconi Ph.D., a Global Lyme Alliance
(GLA)-funded investigator and a member of GLA's
Scientific Advisory Board, just received notice from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of approval of U.S. Patent 10,086,057 for Stage-specific diagnostic antigens and assay
for Lyme disease. This patent was issued to both Dr. Marconi and his colleague at Virginia Commonwealth University, Lee D. Oliver PhD. The patent covers chimeric
Borrelia antigen constructs and mutant recombinant proteins comprising Outer Surface Protein C (OspC) and OspE epitopes, respectively, that are common to bacterial species found in the U.S. and Europe. These antigens can serve as the foundation for multi-protein assays that differentiate early, middle, and late stage infection, and/or in vaccine preparations. According to Dr. Marconi, “This new test was designated using a novel technology developed in my laboratory. Importantly, this new test, which has been licensed to Global Lyme Diagnostics, can detect diverse strains of the Lyme disease spirochetes during the earliest stages of infection. This will allow clinicians to initiate treatment sooner and thus result in better clinical outcomes”.
