Michael Reiskind

Our ???Big Hairy Audacious Goal??? (Collins and Porras 1994) is to adapt proprietary technology for manufacturing microporous polymeric materials to create novel granular and fabric formulations that can be used to manipulate ticks or prevent their acquisition and biting. Specific goals are to: Develop and evaluate methods of loading microporous microcapsules with repellent and/or toxic compounds and compositions and applying these formulated granules onto test substrates and the ground to repel ticks and deter them from entering a treated area. Incorporate microporous polymeric fibers into woven fabrics used to make garments and other fabric materials, which can be loaded with candidate repellent and/or toxicant compounds, and which could be used to protect humans from acquiring and being bitten by ticks. Evaluate nootkatone, 2-undecanone and permethrin alone and in all possible binary and ternary compositions as candidate repellent and/or toxic compounds for incorporation into polymeric microporous granules and fibers.

BanfieldBio, in conjunction with researchers at reputable academic universities (including North Carolina State University) proposes to develop a tick trap based upon the design of Matt Yans, US Navy, to achieve tick surveillance and possible control of endemic ticks. The prototype trap uses a novel ????????????????dorsal-capture??????????????? technique demonstrated to significantly increase capture rates of ticks in the field. There is no standard tick trap available to veterinary entomologists, therefore the device could have widespread utility while also standardizing a technique for critical tick population assessments.

This project will test how a new technology, mid-infrared spectroscopy, can be applied to detection of mosquito-borne pathogens in the mosquitoes. It is a collaborative project between NCSU, East Carolina, and Western Carolina Universities.

This project will collect ticks in four counties in eastern NC: Chatham, Orange, Durham, and Vance or Granville, as opportunities arise. These ticks will be identified to species and a subsample will be tested for the Lyme pathogen, the Rocky Mountain spotted fever pathogens, or the pathogen that causes ehrlichioses. We will also assist a epidmeiological study of tick-borne disease by conducting field sampling in identified environments associated with cases of disease

Project is to develop a mechanical insecticide for mosquito, filth fly and sand fly control for the US military.

This study focuses on phylogenomic sampling and analysis to address evolutionary questions at the species-level and above in mosquitoes (Insecta: Diptera: Culicidae). Phylogenetic understanding of mosquitoes lags well behind most other major economically or biomedically important insects. Four primary objectives guide our efforts to reconstruct the evolutionary history of mosquito species and associated aetiological agents through phylogenomics: 1) To generate DNA sequences from field collected mosquitoes and museum holdings using anchored enrichment (AHE) processes to identify monophyletic lineages and establish relationships within and among all higher Culicid taxa, from specific to family level; 2) Use comprehensively sampled phylogenetic estimates for Aedine clades that contain taxa that have crossed ecological boundaries to address evolutionary questions about domestication, and accompanying habitat- and host-shifts that appear to drive the evolution of major disease vectors; 3) To anchor these changes within the biogeographic and temporal context of mosquito diversification, and test the effects of ecological change on diversification rates in multiple areas of the Culicid tree, and 4) To further expand the development of an existing species and pathogen biodiversity database (www.VectorMap.si.edu), to include a data-enabled, interactive phylogeny of World mosquitoes that provides a contextualized interface for evolutionary studies of mosquito ecology, evolution, species interactions and taxonomic identification. Intellectual Merit: Phylogeny estimates will be used as a comparative and temporal framework to test hypotheses involving ecological specialization, microorganism interactions, and host use in mosquitoes. Phylogenetic findings will be used to test hypotheses about ecological associations on rates and patterns of speciation. The proposed research will contribute to the understanding of the evolution of domestication in mosquitoes and their impact across the human/nature interface integrating taxonomic, phylogenetic, and molecular genetic methods with an emphasis on basic mosquito research that spans evolutionary, ecological and behavioral disciplines. Broader Impacts: The broader impacts of our proposed work are far-reaching by providing new basic research findings on a little known clade with enormous human impact. Mosquitoes, and the visceral reactions they incite, are an incredibly effective group to use to engage the public on the impact of biodiversity and evolution on human society and health. Our work will be disseminated through various educational, citizen science, and public outreach channels through the the National Museum of Natural History, California Academy of Sciences and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCMNS).

This project will collect ticks in four counties in eastern NC: Chatham, Orange, Durham, and Vance or Granville, as opportunities arise. These ticks will be identified to species and a subsample will be tested for the Lyme pathogen, the Rocky Mountain spotted fever pathogens, or the pathogen that causes ehrlichioses. We will also assist a epidmeiological study of tick-borne disease by conducting field sampling in identified environments associated with cases of disease

This project will describe the microbiome from the invasive Asian Long-horned Tick.

This project will collect ticks in four counties in eastern NC: Chatham, Orange, Durham, and Vance or Granville, as opportunities arise. These ticks will be identified to species and a subsample will be tested for the Lyme pathogen, the Rocky Mountain spotted fever pathogens, or the pathogen that causes ehrlichioses.

This project will, in collaboration with scientists at DHHS and UNC-CH, investigate the ecological aspects of Rocky Mountain spotted fever infections in North Carolina. We will sample ticks from sites associated with cases, and use molecular techniques to examine tick infections with pathogens.