DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Invasion phylogeography of Borrelia burgdorferi, a tick-borne pathogen

由于蜱媒、宿主和病原体的范围不断扩大，以及一系列其他环境压力，蜱媒疾病构成了重大且日益严重的全球健康负担。 莱姆病是美国最流行的蜱传疾病，绝大多数病例发生在东北部。 在过去的四十年里，它已经迅速蔓延，从南部的新英格兰通过缅因州以及通过上中西部。 尽管其流行病学的重要性，正在进行的入侵的来源和轨迹仍然很少描述。 该项目利用下一代测序工具重建莱姆病细菌伯氏疏螺旋体的进化历史。 调查病原体的基因组多样性将使我们能够推断入侵的可能起源和传播途径，并将更好地了解推动出现的环境或生态因素。解析B的入侵历史。burgdorferi将为这种重要的人类病原体的持续空间传播和有针对性的控制措施提供模型。 此外，该项目还将支持一个由三名女科学家组成的小组进行研究，并培训至少四名本科生助理，包括妇女和少数民族，以及几名高中生，使其掌握野外生态学、流行病学和进化基因组学技术。

Tick-borne diseases pose a significant and growing global health burden due to the expanding range of tick vectors, reservoir hosts, and pathogens, as well as a suite of other environmental pressures. Lyme disease is the most prevalent tick-borne disease in the US and the vast majority of cases occur in the Northeast. Over the past forty years, it has rapidly spread from southern New England through Maine as well as through the Upper Midwest. Despite its epidemiological importance, the source and trajectory of the ongoing invasion remains poorly described. This project harnesses the tools of next generation sequencing to reconstruct the evolutionary history of the Lyme disease bacteria, Borrelia burgdorferi. Surveying the genomic diversity of the pathogen will allow us to infer the probable origin of invasion and pathways of spread and will inform a better understanding of the environmental or ecological factors driving the emergence. Resolving the invasion history of B. burgdorferi will inform models of continued spatial spread and targeted control measures for this important human pathogen. Further, this project will support the research of a team of three female scientists and the training of at least four undergraduate assistants, including women and minorities, and several high school students in field ecology, epidemiology, and evolutionary genomics techniques.