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George Mason researchers are working to revolutionize Lyme disease detection and diagnosis with urine testing.

“We have developed a urine test for Lyme disease that detects the [Borrelia burgdorferi] bacteria that causes Lyme disease, making it a direct test to confirm an infection soon after the tick bite,” says coprincipal investigator Alessandra Luchini. “This leads to earlier��treatment and could prevent the long-term debilitating effects of the disease.”

The current standard test for potential Lyme disease is an antibody blood test, which measures the body’s immune system response to the Borrelia bacteria.��In contrast, the George Mason test detects molecules derived from the bacteria themselves, which has the advantage of high specificity (accuracy) and early detection. In clinical research trials, the urine tests had a 90 percent true positive rate and close to 100 percent specificity.

George Mason recently received $1.2 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of the Army to support development of the test.��This three-year study takes place in the George Mason CAP/CLIA Clinical Proteomics Laboratory on the Science and Technology Campus and uses banked samples from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of acute Lyme patients from the Lyme Disease Biobank��and from Johns Hopkins University, a recognized leader in clinical Lyme disease research.��

Additionally, the study pilots a George Mason invention—a collapsible urine collection cup, which can be shipped to a lab through the mail, making collection and diagnosis easier for more people to access through telehealth.��

"A urine cup will offer a private, comfortable, and convenient way to collect the sample at home without compromising the accuracy of the lab test,” says Lance Liotta, codirector of George Mason’s , and coprincipal investigator on the study.��“Shipped in a semi-dry state that will preserve target proteins and protects against specimen degradation, this approach will improve specificity, which has been a weakness of previous testing approaches."��

George Mason's Lyme disease test started as a student project in the Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program and has continued to gain momentum. In 2022, Luchini, Liotta, and the CAPMM team were one of 10 Phase 1 winners of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation.

In 2023, CAPMM received $820,000 in federal funding to establish a clinic to help combat Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. The project, championed by U.S. Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), was part of the federal omnibus appropriations bill signed by President Joe Biden.

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