Johns Hopkins University has announced a $10 million grant from the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation in support of Lyme disease research and the development of new therapies for the illness.

The funding includes $6 million over five years for a longitudinal study by the Johns Hopkins Lyme Disease Research Center that will follow patients who develop post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome and analyze the immunological pathways triggered as the disease progresses. The grant also will enable John Aucott, the center's director, to open a new research site each year of the grant period.

In addition, the foundation awarded $2.5 million over five years in support of efforts to develop optimal drug combinations to more effectively fight the post-treatment syndrome and $1 million over three years for a two-phase investigation of the disease in Pennsylvania, one of the states hardest hit by the disease.

"As Lyme cases continue to increase in the U.S., there is an increasing need to understand the disease and its outcomes," said Aucott. "We have no way of predicting who will recover and who won't. This grant will allow us to explore why post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome exists, the mechanisms behind the disease, and the pathways through which it causes symptoms so that one day, we can use that information to develop ways to prevent the disease or develop more effective drugs. Currently, we don't have a full understanding of the disease or the most effective ways to treat those it impacts."