Tick Research

The facility includes fully equipped morphological and molecular laboratories. Specimens and their associated data are used for original scientific research on the systematics, evolutionary history, and population genetics of ticks and their related pathogens. Staff members are involved in morphological and molecular studies of target taxa. (see staff web pages). The research carried out at the USNTC, since its transfer to Georgia Southern, generated hundreds of publications written by the curators and associated scientific collaborators and visitors. Since 2005 the curators were involved in over 50 presentations in national and international peer-reviewed meetings. In addition to their basic taxonomic research, the curators are also revising all USNTC holdings, in order to make them progressively available to the research community and the public through the Smithsonian Entomology Collection web site.

NSF/NIH Funded Ongoing Research at The USNTC

• NSF Collaborative-Linked EID award #914390 – Testing alternative hypotheses for gradients in Lyme disease in the eastern United States: climate, host, community and vector genetic structure (PI: L. Beati)
• REVSYS NSF grant #1026146 – Exploiting a large existing resource for biogeographical and host-parasite data: linking immature and adult amblyommine ticks (PI: L. Beati)
• The National Institute of Health: Systematics of medically important Dermacentor tick vectors (PI: D.A. Apanaskevich)

Forms (Loans & Accessions)

For loans or tick accessions, please fill in the following forms and submit them by e-mail to the USNTC e-mail address. Loans are usually discussed with the requestors, as shipping of ethanol-containing vials and (even dead) disease vectors often require special permits. When possible, the USNTC will generate high quality images for the requestor making sure that all of the important taxonomic characters are visible, instead of shipping materials.

Visiting Researchers

The U.S. National Tick Collection has a long tradition of accommodating national and international researchers for more or less extended periods of time. The collection is accessible and made available to visitors, as are our laboratories.