Events
Recent Event:
INFEST-igate LYME, June 20-21st, 2024, Boston, MA
Lyme Researchers Networking Conference
The Tufts Lyme Disease Initiative sponsored a conference for Lyme disease researchers June 20-21st, at Tufts University, Medford, MA. The goal of this conference was to develop networks within the Lyme research community to ensure the future of the next generation of investigators. It was a different kind of conference filled with elevator pitches, speed networking for collaborations, meet the funders and “Shark tank” evaluation of proposals!!
Attendance was open to Lyme faculty researchers at all levels and to post-doctoral fellows. We had over 100 attendees. We are proud to report that we accepted 100% of applicants and offered talks to all who requested.
Selected comments from attendees:
by far the best conference I have ever attended
I wasn’t sure what to expect from the speed networking but it was fun even for a shy person like me
I loved that people were kept to time in such a creative way, loved the walkoff music
I really prefer the elevator pitches to posters; I wish more conferences would take this approach
I can’t wait for the next one
The Final Program is available here.
Organizing committee:
Alan Barbour, University of California, Irvine
Jorge Benach, Stonybrook University
Linda Bockenstedt, Yale University
Jenifer Coburn, Medical College of Wisconsin
Linden Hu, Tufts University
John Leong, Tufts University
Justin Radolf, University of Connecticut
Patti Rosa, Rocky Mountain Laboratories (emeritus)
Ira Schwartz, New York Medical College
Janis Weis, University of Utah
Planning committee:
Trever Smith, Chair, Tufts University
Philip Adams, National Institutes of Health
Nicole Baumgarth, Johns Hopkins University
Jeffrey Bourgeois, Tufts University
Nadine Bowden, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Brandon Jutras, Virginia Tech
Maria Gomes-Solecki, University of Tennessee
Yi-Pin Lin, Tufts University
Sukanya Narasimhan, Yale University
Nicholas Ogden, Public Health Agency of Canada
Raj Priya, Indiana University
Sajith Raghunandanan, Indiana University
Isobel Ronai, Harvard University
Bikash Sahay, University of Florida
Nick Takacs, Northeastern University
Michal Tal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Alvaro Toledo, Rutgers University
Mark Wooten, University of Toledo
Wolf Zuckert, University of Kansas
We are grateful to our sponsors:
Hugh Roome
Pfizer
Bay Area Lyme Foundation
Previous Event: Lyme Challenge Video Contest
What was the Tufts Lyme Disease Challenge?
A day of panel discussions, breakout sessions, team competition, food and prizes – as Tufts meets the challenge to end Lyme disease by 2030!
Supported by Tufts University Trustee, Hugh Roome, the Lyme Disease Challenge was a competition to encourage the best young minds of the University to work together in teams to solve some of the many issues that have stood in the way of reducing Lyme disease.
The afternoon begun with an introduction to Lyme disease and the public health problem it presents by Dr. Amy Ullmann of CDC. This was followed by short, focused panel discussions highlighting some of the major barriers to success in controlling Lyme disease and an examination of why it continues to expand despite our best efforts. We discussed gaps in public policy, education, diagnosis, treatment, animal health, ecology/epidemiology and basic knowledge about the organism causing the disease.
The participants had the opportunity to form teams and develop their approaches with the assistance of the coaches who brought expertise in specific areas of Lyme disease.
Teams then presented their ideas to the group at the end of the day for feedback. After the event, teams were asked to submit video proposals that competed for funding to help turn their ideas into action.