By Ken Mayer
Featuring insights from Dr. Monica Embers (Tulane), Dr. Nevena Zubcevik, DO (Electro Therapeutics Corp), and Dr. Alan Steere (Harvard)
“We have every reason to explore novel treatment paradigms for persistent Lyme disease. The bioelectric approach is promising precisely because it targets host recovery, not just pathogen elimination.”
— Dr. Monica Embers, Tulane University National Primate Research Center
In the war against infection, antibiotics have long been our sword. But what happens when the sword dulls — and the invader lingers?
Chronic infections like Lyme disease — caused by the elusive spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi — present one of medicine’s most frustrating paradoxes: the pathogen may vanish from the bloodstream, but the symptoms remain. Fatigue. Brain fog. Neuropathic pain. A life suspended between illness and normalcy.
Enter bioelectric medicine.
This sixth installment of the Bioelectric Science series explores a rising hypothesis: that reprogramming the body’s electrical signaling may be the key to resolving persistent infections — not by killing the microbe directly, but by restoring coherence to the immune, neurological, and vascular systems it disrupts.
And two researchers stand at the forefront: Dr. Monica Embers, a leading preclinical investigator on persistent Lyme pathogenesis, and Dr. Nevena Zubcevik, DO, ETC’s Chief Medical Officer, whose prior work at Harvard helped shape an integrative neuroimmune approach to post-treatment Lyme and concussion care.
Chronic Lyme: When the Body Loses Its Signal
The conventional view of infection is linear: exposure, immune response, eradication, recovery. But in Lyme disease — and many stealth infections — this script breaks.
“The host response is often more damaging than the bug itself,” says Dr. Zubcevik, who led post-infectious neurology research at Harvard’s Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. “Inflammation lingers. The brain becomes dysregulated. The autonomic nervous system stays in high alert.”
Her team identified a neurological signature in patients with persistent Lyme symptoms: altered functional connectivity, reduced cerebral blood flow, and post-concussive features — even in the absence of active infection. The parallels between Lyme, long COVID, and post-TBI syndromes became unmistakable.
During her time at Harvard, Dr. Zubcevik began investigating neuromodulatory therapies — including PEMF — as tools to restore neurovascular regulation and immune balance. That work now guides Electro Therapeutics Corp’s clinical strategy: delivering programmable PEMF to modulate inflammation, enhance perfusion, and calm the hyperactive nervous system that fuels chronic symptoms.
Morphoelectric Disruption: What Lyme Does to Cells
According to Dr. Embers, the Lyme spirochete is more than a stealth pathogen — it’s an electrophysiological saboteur. In her primate studies, Borrelia persists in tissues like the brain and joints despite antibiotic treatment, often in protected niches like collagen and myelin.
These sanctuaries aren’t just structural. They’re bioelectric environments, rich with ion channels, microcurrents, and intercellular signaling.
“We’ve observed that Lyme can alter host signaling pathways and immune regulation long after the initial infection has cleared,” says Embers. “It’s a shift in the body’s electrical and inflammatory baseline.”
She believes bioelectric therapy — especially nonthermal, low-frequency PEMF — may play a role in reestablishing physiological order. In her 2024 letter of support for Electro Therapeutics Corp’s PEMF research, she emphasized:
“This technology offers a promising non-invasive therapeutic approach that warrants clinical study in persistent Lyme disease, particularly given the overlapping mechanisms of neuroinflammation, vascular dysregulation, and autonomic dysfunction.”
The Electrome of Infection: What PEMF Can Influence
The PEMF platform under development at ETC — co-invented by Dr. Zubcevik and a team of neuroscientists and engineers — includes adaptive frequency modulation, wearable form factors, and biometric sensor integration to dynamically tailor therapy to patient physiology.
Its targets in chronic infection management include:
- Neuroinflammation: Reducing microglial activation and cytokine levels in the CNS
- Vascular Perfusion: Improving cerebral blood flow and endothelial tone in affected regions
- Autonomic Regulation: Balancing sympathetic overdrive through vagal and limbic modulation
- Pain Circuit Resetting: Calming peripheral and central sensitization
- Immune Recalibration: Promoting T-reg balance and resolution-phase immune activity
Citations + Translational Science
- Embers, M.E., et al. (2017). “Persistence of Borrelia burgdorferi in rhesus macaques following antibiotic treatment of disseminated infection.” PLOS ONE, 12(1): e0146298
- Zubcevik, N., et al. (2016). “Neuroimaging findings in post-treatment Lyme disease and mild TBI: A shared pathophysiology?” PM&R, 8(6): 512–522
- Strickland, G.T. (2022). “Autonomic dysfunction in persistent Lyme disease.” Infectious Disease Clinics of North America, 36(2): 401–416
- Muehsam, D., et al. (2015). “Pulsed electromagnetic fields modulate cellular signaling and gene expression.” Journal of Integrative Medicine, 13(5): 329–345
What Comes Next: Programmable Immunity
In Bioelectric Science, Vol. VII, we’ll explore how PEMF and electroceuticals are being designed to “tune” the immune system — not by suppression or stimulation, but by harmonizing. We’ll speak with immunologists using signal dynamics to calm cytokine storms, support transplant tolerance, and treat autoimmune conditions like lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.
Because the next immune drug might not be molecular at all.
It might be electrical.
Bioelectric Science Series Recap:
- ✅ Vol. I: The Future is Electric
- ✅ Vol. II: The Signal Effect
- ✅ Vol. III: Electric Immunity
- ✅ Vol. IV: The Personalized Pulse
- ✅ Vol. V: The Electric Brain
- ✅ Vol. VI: Out of the Shadows
- �� Vol. VII: Programmable Immunity