A new NWO Impact Explorer grant will fund a multi-stakeholder exploration of the feasibility of developing a controlled human Borrelia-infection model
June 11, 2026 — 1Day Sooner has joined a new Amsterdam UMC research project led by prof. dr. J.W. Hovius: “Challenging Lyme disease: exploring societal and ethical pathways for a controlled human Borrelia-infection model.” With support from the Dutch Research Council (NWO) through an Impact Explorer grant, the project will examine the scientific, ethical, and societal considerations that under which such a model could responsibly be developed — laying the groundwork for one, rather than carrying it out. 1Day Sooner and the clinical research organization INFECTA join as impact partners.
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern Hemisphere, yet the tools to prevent it remain limited. There is no licensed human vaccine in widespread use, and existing diagnostics often struggle to detect infection in its earliest, most treatable stage. Progress on better vaccines, treatments, and tests has long been slowed by the difficulty of studying the infection under controlled conditions.
A controlled human infection model — in which carefully screened, fully informed volunteers are deliberately exposed to a pathogen under close medical supervision — can compress that timeline by allowing researchers to test candidate interventions directly and efficiently. The Amsterdam UMC team has already established an uninfected human tick-challenge model, in which volunteers allow clean, Borrelia-free ticks to feed under controlled conditions. This project asks what it would take to responsibly extend that work toward a model involving the Borrelia bacterium itself, with the aim of accelerating research on diagnostics and treatments.
Developing such a model raises complex scientific, ethical, and societal questions, and this grant is designed to confront them directly. The team will carry out a structured multi-stakeholder analysis bringing together researchers, clinicians, ethicists, regulators, and participants. The result will be a feasibility assessment that determines whether a controlled human Borrelia-infection model can be developed responsibly, in a way that maximises its benefit to patients and the public.
“This project reflects one of our core convictions, which is that the people who would take part in such studies belong at the table when they are designed,” said Paul Zimmer-Harwood, Research Lead at 1Day Sooner. “As an impact partner, we’ll help ensure that participant perspectives — on consent, risk, communication, and what makes a study worth volunteering for — shape the work from the outset rather than being considered after the fact.”
The collaboration brings together complementary expertise. Amsterdam UMC contributes its clinical and tick-borne disease research, INFECTA its experience operating controlled human infection models, and 1Day Sooner its advocacy on behalf of research participants. Together, the partners aim to deliver a roadmap that moves the field forward on Lyme disease deliberately, transparently, and with participants at its centre.
Media Contact:
Tess Lanzarotta
tess.lanzarotta@1daysooner.org