Researchers Dr. Steven E. Schutzer of UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and Dr. Claire M. Fraser-Liggett of the Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland, and their collaborators have made a major achievement toward better understanding Lyme disease, by determining the complete genetic structures of 13 strains of the bacteria that cause the disease.
These new discoveries may accelerate research efforts to diagnose, prevent and treat the disease, which can affect the nervous system, heart, skin and joints. The occurrence of the disease has grown dramatically over the past ten years in the United States and Europe. The research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, has been published online ahead of print in the Journal of Bacteriology.
Dr. Schutzer said, “A driving force for doing this project was the observation that certain forms of the bacteria can be more invasive than others. We wanted to find out why and how to identify this property”.
These new discoveries may accelerate research efforts to diagnose, prevent and treat the disease, which can affect the nervous system, heart, skin and joints. The occurrence of the disease has grown dramatically over the past ten years in the United States and Europe. The research, which was funded by the National Institutes of Health, has been published online ahead of print in the Journal of Bacteriology.
Dr. Schutzer said, “A driving force for doing this project was the observation that certain forms of the bacteria can be more invasive than others. We wanted to find out why and how to identify this property”.
