Tick Threat Tackled: Auburn faculty member wired into tick research
Help Wanted: Applicants sought to glue tiny gold wires on the backs of uncooperative live ticks. No experience necessary. Must be willing to get up close and personal with small, bloodsucking arthropods.
Not exactly the most glamorous position available in any imaginary help wanted section, but according to Kathryn Reif, associate professor and Bailey-Goodwin Endowed Professor of Parasitology in the Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Pathobiology, tick research will hopefully provide good job security.
“Ticks are an omnipresent threat, and they’ve been around for millions of years, since before the time of the dinosaurs,” said Reif. “Many of the most common tick species are equal opportunity biters, so they can be a problem for pets and livestock animals as well as people. They also can carry serious diseases such as ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease and Rocky Mountain spotted fever.”
But Reif, who came to Auburn from Kansas State University as the inaugural Bailey-Goodwin Professor roughly a year ago, can’t help but hold a grudging respect for her thoroughly unlovable research subjects.