FIRST
SYMPOSIUM
In addition to advancing research in tick-borne illnesses and working to solve the major public health issues associated with costly and chronic diseases like Lyme disease, the multi-project grant program has a goal of training future leaders in the field and sharing their work through education and outreach efforts. To help achieve this goal, the Tick Immunity Administrative Core hosted an annual Symposium in tick-borne illness research. A full recap of the event can be found here or in the blog post below.
The first annual Symposium for the Tick Immunity project was held Thursday, October 17, 2019. The team hosted local, national, and international scientists, researchers, students, and special guests and stakeholders working or interested in the field of tick-borne illness and immunology.
The Symposium featured:
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A welcome address from leadership of the University of Maryland and the Tick Immunity project.
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Perspectives from the Vector Biology Branch of the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID).
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Guest lecturers in immunity-microbiome interactions from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and European tick-borne disease perspectives from the German National Reference Centre for Borrelia.
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A keynote address discussing CRISPR gene editing in arthropods.
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Work-in-progress updates from the principal investigator and other key personnel of the Tick Immunity project in key areas, including:
1. Cross-species immunity signals impacting persistence of tick-borne pathogens
2. Microbial detection by ticks
3. Tick gut immune-gut microbiota interactions in the context of tick-borne pathogens
4. Tick resources core
In addition to these informational sessions, the Tick Immunity team accepted questions from the participants and discuss their work, highlighting their progress in the persistence, detection, and immune-gut interactions of tick-borne pathogens.
For more information on the Tick Immunity Symposium, email tickimmunity@gmail.com.
