Ecological drivers of Lyme disease risk
Invasive plant species: Vermont consistently reports one of the highest per capita rates of Lyme disease in Vermont, and landowners have few options for reducing their risk of acquiring this and other tick-borne diseases. I am studying whether vegetation management may offer landowners a new tool in their efforts to reduce their disease risk. I collaborate with Dr. Kristen Ross (VTSU Castleton) and researchers across New England to 1) characterize the composition of understory plant communities in relation to blacklegged tick populations and 2) determine if invasive plant species removal can reduce tick densities and the risk of tick-borne diseases. This research is funded by the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEWVEC) and by the National Science Foundation's Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems (DISES) program (PI: Dr. Allison Gardner, University of Maine).
Tick feeding behavior: Ticks are blood suckers who become engorged during prolonged feeding on an animal host. As generalist feeders, ticks feed on almost anything with a backbone. After feeding, the blood meal is digested, the tick molts into a new life stage and then usually remains dormant in the soil for several months. When they emerge to find their next blood meal, small amounts of DNA may remain from their prior blood host. I use molecular tools to detect these small quantities of DNA in order to better understand tick feeding behavior, information which may aid in predicting and potentially managing tick-borne disease risk. This research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN).
Molecular and microbial Ecology
CRISPR-Cas12a detection of tick-borne pathogens: Lyme Borreliosis (“Lyme Disease”) affects nearly 500,000 people annually in the United States. The illness is caused by a spirochete bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. The Outer Surface Protein C (OspC) of B. burgdorferi plays a role in transmission of the pathogen from tick to host, and in establishing an infection. The gene that codes for OspC is highly variable, with at least 16 variants present in our study region in southwestern Vermont. Among these OspC variants are a small number of groups believed to be responsible for severe cases of Lyme disease. However, this conclusion has not been rigorously tested, in part because current methods of OspC variant testing are difficult to implement. I am developing an assay for the detection of OspC variants in blacklegged ticks that is based upon CRISPR/Cas12a DNA detection. This method is highly specific and can be performed without advanced equipment. Our long-term goal is to use this assay to identify spatiotemporal patterns in the number and abundance of OspC variants in ticks, and to more rigorously test the hypothesis that certain OspC variants are responsible for severe cases of Lyme disease. This research is funded by the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN).
Microbiome research: I use next generation DNA sequencing to study the bacterial and fungal communities that inhabit blacklegged ticks. I am interested in understanding the ecological factors that influence the assembly of this “tick microbiome” and whether certain microbes may facilitate, or impede, colonization of blacklegged ticks by Borrelia burgdorferi. My interest in microbiome research traces back to my graduate and postdoctoral research, when I used fatty acid profiling and high throughput DNA sequencing to study how soil microbial communities change over time and space and in relation to environmental factors such as soil nitrogen, moisture and plant composition.
Soil Ecology
As a graduate student, I pursued a PhD in soil ecology using a combination of field, biochemical and molecular techniques to better understand how soil organisms affect the production of plant-available forms of nitrogen (i.e. ammonium and nitrate). More recently, my lab has begun to study the impact of Asian Jumping Worms on the soil nitrogen cycle by using a microplate-base spectrophotometer. In addition, we are exploring how jumping worms may impact blacklegged tick populations, since each of these species occupies similar locations in the soil profile and are active at similar times of year.
Invasive plant species: Vermont consistently reports one of the highest per capita rates of Lyme disease in Vermont, and landowners have few options for reducing their risk of acquiring this and other tick-borne diseases. I am studying whether vegetation management may offer landowners a new tool in their efforts to reduce their disease risk. I collaborate with Dr. Kristen Ross (VTSU Castleton) and researchers across New England to 1) characterize the composition of understory plant communities in relation to blacklegged tick populations and 2) determine if invasive plant species removal can reduce tick densities and the risk of tick-borne diseases. This research is funded by the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEWVEC) and by the National Science Foundation's Dynamics of Integrated Socio-Environmental Systems (DISES) program (PI: Dr. Allison Gardner, University of Maine).
Tick feeding behavior: Ticks are blood suckers who become engorged during prolonged feeding on an animal host. As generalist feeders, ticks feed on almost anything with a backbone. After feeding, the blood meal is digested, the tick molts into a new life stage and then usually remains dormant in the soil for several months. When they emerge to find their next blood meal, small amounts of DNA may remain from their prior blood host. I use molecular tools to detect these small quantities of DNA in order to better understand tick feeding behavior, information which may aid in predicting and potentially managing tick-borne disease risk. This research was funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN).
Molecular and microbial Ecology
CRISPR-Cas12a detection of tick-borne pathogens: Lyme Borreliosis (“Lyme Disease”) affects nearly 500,000 people annually in the United States. The illness is caused by a spirochete bacterium, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto. The Outer Surface Protein C (OspC) of B. burgdorferi plays a role in transmission of the pathogen from tick to host, and in establishing an infection. The gene that codes for OspC is highly variable, with at least 16 variants present in our study region in southwestern Vermont. Among these OspC variants are a small number of groups believed to be responsible for severe cases of Lyme disease. However, this conclusion has not been rigorously tested, in part because current methods of OspC variant testing are difficult to implement. I am developing an assay for the detection of OspC variants in blacklegged ticks that is based upon CRISPR/Cas12a DNA detection. This method is highly specific and can be performed without advanced equipment. Our long-term goal is to use this assay to identify spatiotemporal patterns in the number and abundance of OspC variants in ticks, and to more rigorously test the hypothesis that certain OspC variants are responsible for severe cases of Lyme disease. This research is funded by the Vermont Biomedical Research Network (VBRN).
Microbiome research: I use next generation DNA sequencing to study the bacterial and fungal communities that inhabit blacklegged ticks. I am interested in understanding the ecological factors that influence the assembly of this “tick microbiome” and whether certain microbes may facilitate, or impede, colonization of blacklegged ticks by Borrelia burgdorferi. My interest in microbiome research traces back to my graduate and postdoctoral research, when I used fatty acid profiling and high throughput DNA sequencing to study how soil microbial communities change over time and space and in relation to environmental factors such as soil nitrogen, moisture and plant composition.
Soil Ecology
As a graduate student, I pursued a PhD in soil ecology using a combination of field, biochemical and molecular techniques to better understand how soil organisms affect the production of plant-available forms of nitrogen (i.e. ammonium and nitrate). More recently, my lab has begun to study the impact of Asian Jumping Worms on the soil nitrogen cycle by using a microplate-base spectrophotometer. In addition, we are exploring how jumping worms may impact blacklegged tick populations, since each of these species occupies similar locations in the soil profile and are active at similar times of year.