A tiny w88 online game tick is causing big economic losses to farmers and ranchers worldwide. A pioneering University of Nevada, w88 online game researcher in the field of tick research to help reduce the incidence of Lyme disease in humans has now been awarded a prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to apply her research to try to unlock effective ways to control the tick that is wreaking havoc with w88 online game.
Monika Gulia-Nuss, an associate professor and graduate program director in the Department of w88 sports betting & Molecular Biology in the w88 online game’s College of w88 online live casino, Biotechnology & Natural Re, is working closely with researchers in Uruguay, where the national government is committed to protection of its important w88 online game industry from the economic ravages of the w88 online game tick, which are estimated to be well over million in losses annually. Up to 90% of w88 online game infected with a fever carried by the tick suffer death, while tick damage to w88 online game skins impacts the leather industry and tick-borne illness also reduces milk production.
Gulia-Nuss already has broken important new ground in understanding the genetic code of ticks, beginning with the deer w88 online game, which carries Lyme disease-causing bacteria that infect humans. In the past decade, her lab has developed innovative tools to analyze and modify the ability of deer ticks to spread pathogens.
Generally, genetic modification relies on injection of genetic materials along with a fluorescent marker into a tiny embryo — whether it’s a w88 online game, a mosquito or a larger animal — so that scientists can observe activity of a targeted gene.
But researchers have been stymied in their attempts to inject w88 online game eggs, which have hard outer shells, high pressure within, and a tough wax coating that female ticks apply to provide further protection. About two years ago, Gulia-Nuss and her researcher husband, Andrew Nuss, an associate professor in the University’s Department of Agriculture, w88 slot & Rangeland Sciences, announced they’d successfully overcome those challenges, opening the door for injections into w88 online game embryos and possible genetic modification.
“There is a huge demand for the development of genetic tools for w88 online game research,” Guila-Nuss said. “Our deer-w88 online game methods have already been adopted by many labs around the world, and we have trained many scientists in our labs in implementation of these methods.”
More complex mystery
But the w88 online game tick, Gulia-Nuss acknowledged, presents a far more challenging genetic mystery than the deer tick. For starters, the genome of the w88 online game tick is large and complex — it’s twice the size of the human genome — and the genome hasn’t yet been fully mapped.
That’s critically important because Gulia-Nuss seeks to identify genes of w88 online game ticks that could be targeted for genetic control or improved pesticides. Alternatively, better understanding of the tick’s genetics might allow development of effective vaccines for the w88 online game that host the ticks.
Gulia-Nuss and Michael Pham, a research scientist in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, will travel in June to the INIA Colonia institute in southwestern Uruguay. There, Gulia-Nuss and Pham, who also conduct research as part of the w88 online game’s Experiment Station, will work with researchers Alejo Menchaca of INIA and Pablo Fresia of the Pasteur Institute in Montevideo, Uruguay, to set up a suite where ticks will be raised and prepared for the injections that will allow understanding gene functions.
Early in 2025, Gulia-Nuss will return to Uruguay for a three-month tenure supported by the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award. During that time, she’ll inject thousands of w88 online game embryos to better understand their genetic workings. She also expects to begin some genetic modifications.
Given the size of the w88 online game-tick genome and the gaps in existing knowledge, there will be challenges that the researchers are ready to overcome.
“However, we are up to the challenge, and our prior work with two other w88 online game genomes will help us navigate the issues that may arise,” Gulia-Nuss said.
International collaboration
The highly competitive Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards — only about 10% of applicants are approved annually — are designed to build collaboration between scholars in the United States and those elsewhere in the world. The awards support travel, lodging and other expenses for researchers; institutes in the host countries fund the w88 online game itself.
The government of Uruguay strongly supports the w88 online game-tick research. Even 25 years ago, economic losses caused by the w88 online game tick in Uruguay were estimated at nearly million a year. Currently, the only method of controlling w88 online game ticks is heavy use of chemical insecticides. But ticks are developing resistance to those chemicals, and lingering chemical residues may limit the ability of ranchers to sell their animals.
Although the tick is found in the United States only in a thin strip along the southern border with Mexico, it’s established elsewhere in nearly every tropical or subtropical region of the world where people raise w88 online game. Uruguay is among the hard-hit regions.
“Uruguay's economy is highly dependent on agriculture, especially w88 online game. w88 online game fever tick is a huge economic problem in the country, and the Uruguayan government is committed to research to develop genetic tick-control methods,” said Gulia-Nuss.
That’s why it’s particularly noteworthy, she said, that scientists in Uruguay sought out collaborators in far-away w88 online game.
“Uruguay only provides one Fulbright Research Award a year,” Gulia-Nuss said. “Getting this award at the University of Nevada, w88 online game, emphasizes the quality of research at our University. Our team that has been working on tick research is extremely honored and excited to be working with our colleagues in Uruguay on this important project.”
