This press release is scheduled to go out next week. Artists or anyone in CT interested in helping-- please let me know. ---------------------------------------
Artists Wield Paint Brushes in Battle Against Lyme Disease - July 12
Silent Auction of Artists' Connecticut Shoreline Landscapes to Aid Innovative UNH Lyme Disease Research Group
West Haven, Conn., May 9, 2009--Armed with little more than paint brushes and a wealth of creativity, more than 15 area artists will unite in the village of Stony Creek, in Branford, Conn., from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 12, 2009, to help a University of New Haven researcher wage an unconventional research battle against Lyme disease.
In what has developed into a full-scale paint-a-thon, the professional artists--many of whom are alumni from the Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts, in Old Lyme, Conn.--will set up their easels throughout the picturesque area and create small landscape paintings which will be sold during a silent auction later that day.
The auction will be held in the Stony Creek Gallery, 152 Thimble Islands Road, in Branford, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.
A suggested $5.00 auction donation will be credited towards the purchase any of the paintings created earlier in the day.
The event is the brainchild of Kimberly Ruggiero, an accomplished artist in her own right, and owner of Ruggiero Gallery in Madison, Conn. Ruggiero was diagnosed with neurological Lyme disease in 2005.
While attending a Lyme disease symposium at the University of New Haven in 2006, Ruggiero became interested in the pioneering work of Eva Sapi, Ph.D., a University of New Haven (UNH) associate professor, University Research Scholar and graduate program coordinator at the Department of Biology and Environmental Science.
Proceeds from the auction will go to support the research of Dr. Eva Sapi and the UNH Lyme Disease Research Group. Sapi is researching the possibility that Borrelia--the causative agent of Lyme disease--is capable of creating ``biofilm,'' a secretion that renders the bacterium very resistant to antibiotics, which may provide answers to why the disease is so difficult to treat.
She has 20 years of experience in molecular biology and specializes in Lyme-disease related research, and her recent work also includes researching the tick population in several Connecticut towns and studying the cystic form of Borrelia.
Due to the lack of accurate testing and a complex presentation of symptoms that may last beyond the standard treatment period, disagreement surrounds many aspects of Lyme disease including diagnosis, treatment selection and treatment duration.
Recently, a controversial bill was passed by Connecticut legislators allowing doctors to treat chronic Lyme disease with long-term antibiotics without being prosecuted. Opponents of the bill believe that chronic Lyme disease is a myth and are concerned about the lasting, harmful effects of long-term antibiotics.
If the bill is signed into law by Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, Connecticut will be the second state to pass a specific Lyme disease protection bill.
Posted by lakes592 (Member # 18905) on :
This is great...Thanks for sharing. Wish I lived closer I would love to go.