Milder winters & rainy springs make for prime breeding grounds for ticks says Asst Prof Thomas Hart @tmhartbio.bsky.social an infectious-disease microbiologist @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social

The warmer it is, the more ticks are able to survive through the seasons he says
www.wsj.com/health/welln...

Tick bites are are on the rise this and they can carry some nasty illnesses. Which are most common depends where you live. Here's what to know to protect yourself.

Today!

3rd Annual Ticks and Tickborne Diseases Symposium
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore

April 30, 2025

publichealth.jhu.edu/lyme-and-tic...

#MicroSky 🦠

Overall, this work lays the foundation for the rational design of anti-tick vaccines that induce tick resistance-without needing to get bitten.

We found 199 tick antigens recognized by immune sera, including many proteins with histamine binding domains-key proteins secreted by ticks during feeding. Further, we developed a novel anti-tick vaccine of antigens from tick cement, and found this vaccine inhibited tick feeding.

So we built IscREAM (I. scapularis Rapid Extracellular Antigen Monitoring, and an apt name) to probe all potential extracellular or secreted tick antigens with tick-exposed or resistant serum. We were able to map the antigens recognized by humans and animal models in fine detail.

Humans and other animals can develop immunity to these tick proteins, known as acquired tick resistance. Ticks feeding on a resistant host detach early and are less likely to transmit disease. But finding which of the thousands of tick antigens leads to resistance is a challenge.

Ticks like I. scapularis feed for several days, over which time they can transmit diseases like Lyme disease and Babesiosis. To facilitate this prolonged feeding, they inject saliva proteins into the skin to numb pain, suppress the immune system, and prevent blood clotting.

Happy to share our new ScienceTM paper from Yingjun Cui, Erol Fikrig and @aaronmring.bsky.social et al. We built a yeast display library of 3,000+ I. scapularis proteins to profile antigens recognized by tick-resistant hosts, and developed a new anti-tick vaccine. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

We're looking for a postdoc to join my group @johnshopkinssph.bsky.social MMI department to investigate host-pathogen interactions in Lyme disease!
If interested, please email a cover letter, CV, and contact information for three references to me at [email protected].