Each year, TIME compiles a highly anticipated list of the Best Inventions, celebrating extraordinary innovations that are changing lives. The list pays special attention to fast growing fields such as healthcare and AI, evaluating candidates on factors including originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact.
Earning a coveted spot on the 2026 list, LymeAlert’s groundbreaking technology delivers rapid insights during the critical window immediately following a tick bite. By allowing individuals to test a removed tick at home for the presence of the pathogen that can cause Lyme disease, the kit empowers people with vital information when they need it most.
The test is supported by a data-driven app that ensures definitive results, offers connection to telehealth, and features real-time hotspot mapping.
The Story Behind the Innovation
LymeAlert CEO and Co-founder, Erin Dawicki, is a medical professional who routinely faced the same question from her patients: “What should I do now that I’ve removed a tick?”
What began as Erin’s brainstorming idea for a group project in MIT Sloan Fellows MBA program quickly evolved into a groundbreaking technology. Recognizing the tick as a vital source of data, Erin championed the guidance to “test the tick, don’t toss it.” This vision led to her invention of the Tick Crusher™ and launching the first at-home tick testing kit with Co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Michelle Ewy.
Why At-Home Tick Testing Matters
- Expanding Threat: Over 1 million people and pets are diagnosed with Lyme disease annually as tick habitats continue to expand globally.
- Unreliable Traditional Testing: Lyme disease tests can be costly, delayed, or inaccurate.
- 72-Hour Treatment Window: By testing the tick, individuals can access important data about the vector that bit them within the critical treatment window for Lyme disease.
- Preventing Chronic Illness: Barriers to healthcare and delayed medical treatment can lead to chronic Lyme disease cases, which can be expensive to manage.
- Combating Antibiotic Resistance: Fast and definitive clarity reduces unnecessary "just-in-case" antibiotic prescriptions, helping to curb the global threat of antibiotic resistance.
Our team at LymeAlert is inspired by this recognition on our journey to give people control, clarity and confidence after a tick bite. We are proud to lead this charge towards smarter, faster, and more accessible healthcare - one test kit at a time.
See the full list TIME’s Best Inventions here: ti.me/best-inventions