Interreg POCTEFA EFA 099/01. NanoLyme: Toward a new diagnosis of Lyme disease through nanotechnology, atomic spectrometry and artificial intelligence artificial

Summary: Lyme disease is an emerging disease that is causing growing clinical concern across Europe. It is considered endemic in the POCTEFA region and its increase is due, among other factors, to climate change, which causes the vectors that transmit it to be active for longer, as stated in the report “l Cambio climático es los Pirineos: impactos, vulnerabilidades y adaptación”, prepared by the OPCC and the CTP. The European Parliament Resolution on this disease, 2018/2774 (RSP), analyzes the situation in Europe noting that “a more reliable early diagnosis of Lyme disease will significantly reduce the number of cases of advanced stage, thereby improving the patients’ quality of life” and calling for “greater international cooperation in research on Lyme disease”, Our project picks up this call by capitalizing on the previous experience acquired in the diagnosis of another disease (Wilson) in the previous DBS, and incorporating the competent partner in Lyme in the POCTEFA area (CH Lannemezan). The project aims the development of a new method for diagnosing Lyme disease based on a novel and unique approach, which instead of trying to detect the antibodies generated by the patient (sometimes practically non-existent), it will detect the inoculated bacteria themselves that cause the disease. This method can only be developed from the cross-border cooperation of the participating partners, and their complementary experience in the use of nanotechnology as a facilitating tool, the ICP-MS technique and artificial intelligence applied to clinical diagnosis. The result will be a robust Lyme diagnostic method that will be directly transferred to the main hospitals of the involved POCTEFA regions for immediate application at the end of the project.

The NanoLyme project has been 65% co-financed by the European Union through the Interreg VI-A Spain-France-Andorra Program (POCTEFA 2021-2027). The objective of POCTEFA is to strengthen the economic and social integration of the Spain-France-Andorra border area.