new tick research centre in nova scotia opens, starting breeding efforts and lab work
4 minute read
nicoletta faraone, the director of the canadian tick research and innovation centre at acadia university, stands by the incubator within which the centre will hatch thousands of ticks per year for internal research and sale to other labs.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
if the idea of thousands of ticks in a room makes your skin crawl, you may want to avoid the upstairs of the chemistry department at acadia university’s elliott hall.
the new canadian tick research and innovation centre, announced last fall, is up and running, and researchers are working toward the breeding of thousands of ticks for internal study and use by other research sites across the country.
nicoletta faraone, a chemistry professor at acadia and the director of the centre, said those working at the site are making progress toward hatching ticks in what is known as a tickery, or nursery for hatching and growing the parasite.
the first step is breeding ticks free of any pathogens, such as lyme disease, so they are considered clean for research. faraone and her team are using ticks collected from nova scotia and trying to find the right conditions for them to breed and lay viable eggs that will hatch.
that work is happening in an incubator inside a double entrance, negative pressure room. the incubator maintains temperature and humidity levels meant to be ideal for successful reproduction.
acadia professor nicoletta faraone, stands in the entrance to the new canadian tick research and innovation centre at the university. faraone is the director of the centre, which along with its lab work will hatch thousands of ticks per year.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
right now, they are only working with the two types native to nova scotia: the blacklegged tick and the american dog tick. at some point they will seek federal approval to work with others that have been making their way toward canada, including the lone star tick.
“the first thing we are doing is collecting the ticks from the field and separating them by species and males and females,” faraone said.
feeding first, then mating
the incubator currently contains ticks at various stages of the reproductive cycle, including engorged females ready to lay eggs.
before they get to that stage, the ticks are placed in containers with an engineered membrane meant to resemble skin, under which is cow or sheep blood that they feed on after piercing the membrane. once the females are engorged, they are transferred to the incubator. the membrane was developed at the centre.
ticks can be seen feeding in cups with artificial membranes designed at the canadian tick research and innovation centre at acadian university.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
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the process also requires having males nearby. they need to feed first so they can have the energy to produce the biological material for mating. only after mating will the female feed and become engorged. the males don’t feed as much and don’t become engorged.
part of what the centre is exploring is the role of male ticks in passing on pathogens to humans and animals.
“so far, what we know is that the females are the main vector because they are attached to you for a long time and cause the pathogen transmission,” faraone said.
the males do not feed as long, and researchers want to know whether that shorter period of time is enough for the transmission of pathogens.
screening for pathogens such as lyme disease
the tickery is one portion of the centre. there is also a lab area where dna is extracted from ticks for processing and analysis and researchers do screening for potential pathogens, such as lyme disease or others that can harm the tick.
ticks are seen inside the incubator at the canadian tick research and innovation centre at acadia university.
ian fairclough
/
the chronicle herald
“we need to monitor the presence of pathogens in our tick colony, potentially giving them antibiotics because ideally, in the future, we want to have a large-scale production of ticks so we can sell to other researchers pathogen-free,” faraone said.
there has been some work involved to get to the point of having ticks successfully lay eggs. the team had to get a membrane that worked first.
“we were able to get successful attachment of ticks and have them fully engorged and have ticks that have laid eggs,” faraone said.
“the feeding attach rates have been very high.”
however, they have not yet been able to see eggs that have hatched.
“we’re really happy for the results we’ve been getting so far,” faraone said. “we are very positive that soon we will see a full cycle.”
tricky job of getting ticks viable for research purposes
she said there are different elements that may have led to viability issues with the eggs. those include minor fluctuations of temperature and humidity, the fact that the membrane is still synthetic and may have affected the ticks’ mouths and made it harder to feed, or ticks collected from the field may already have some kind of impairment.
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one batch of ticks the lab was working with died because of a fungus.
“the team is working very hard to try to isolate each individual aspect,” faraone said. “it’s not just one thing, it’s multiple things.”
she said the centre has accomplished a lot in getting to the point where they are having ticks fully engorged and laying eggs.
however, even failures in some attempts can be useful to other tick research that faraone is doing if it shows something that may prevent ticks from attaching or reproducing.
hoping to sell commercially-viable ticks to researchers within three years
the tick centre has a full-time lab manager and research technician, and has two masters students and three research assistants working over the summer through funding grants. more hirings are coming, faraone said.
nicoletta faraone, the director of the canadian tick research and innovation centre, holds a membrane cup that is used to feed ticks at the centre’s nursery. the centre will eventually produce thousands of ticks per year for internal and external; research.
faraone and biology professors kirk hillier and laura ferguson are also doing work in the centre as part of their research into ticks, including faraone’s study of whether essential oil from lemongrass can be an effective deterrent.
faraone said having the centre up and running is an exciting milestone. it has funding for five years.
“in the next year or two, we should be able to optimize the feeding process and make sure we can have a complete cycle of the ticks,” she said. “once we have that working, the production of ticks can be pretty quick.”
she said the centre has already been in touch with other researchers interested in buying ticks.
within three years, she’s hoping the centre will have a commercial component that is not only selling ticks and doing pathogen testing but also providing testing services for companies developing repellent products.
faraone said the centre is not putting pathogens into ticks or releasing them, and they are all contained to the lab.
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