Dr. Lauren Toote, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Etown College, has been hard at work for the past couple years on the development of a more sensitive and accurate test for diagnosing Lyme disease which has become increasingly prevalent across the United States (particularly in our neck of the woods in rural Pennsylvania). This past summer, Dr. Toote worked with her student, Justin Cosgrove, on a Summer Creative Arts and Research Project (SCARP) to continue to develop this new test which will continue to be an ongoing project.
In this chat, we discuss the challenges and the possibilities that this project presents as well as some of the background on Lyme disease in the United States and the complexities and limitations of the current diagnostic tools. And of course, we discuss the chemistry involved.