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Fleas – Innate Immunology
Fleas are obligatory blood feeders and, likewise, are vectors of numerous blood-borne pathogens that cause disease in humans and in animals. The disease agents transmitted by fleas includes viruses, bacteria, protozoans, and nematodes. Although a significant amount of work has been devoted towards understanding the immune mechanisms that insects employ to fight infection, relatively little attention has been paid to the immunology of fleas. Using the cat flea (Ctenocephalides felis) as our study organism, currently the most important flea pest of humans and many domestic animals, our projects include:
Fleas, Mosquitoes, Ticks – Ecological Immunology
In their natural habitats, arthropods are constantly challenged with various biotic and abiotic pressures, including resource limitation, competition, predation, temperature variation, and pesticides, which affect the efficacy of their immune system. The net effect of these environmental factors on immunocompetence depends on how they affect both the pathogen’s ability to establish and develop in the arthropod host and the arthropod’s ability to resist and/or tolerate the infection. Using a combination of field and laboratory techniques, our projects include:
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