Project 457482

Tick-borne diseases are an almost invisible fast-growing threat in North America due to the lack of effective diagnostic tests; I aim to tackle this epidemic by developing a rapid diagnostic method. With global warming, tick-borne diseases are increasing in Canada. The tick, a tiny insect, can transmit more than 100 different bacteria to humans and animals with a single bite, most of which remain undetected. Even for Lyme disease, the most well-known one, ~30,000 new cases are reported in the USA each year, which is only 10% of the true estimate. Clinical diagnosis of tick-borne diseases is complicated because most of them have overlapping symptoms. Starting with flu-like symptoms, these diseases can lead to multiple-organ failure, neurological dysfunctions, and even death. The good news is, most of these severe consequences are preventable if the diseases are diagnosed at an early stage. The current diagnostic method depends on antibody detection in the patient's blood, whereas, it takes weeks for the patient to produce antibodies to fight against the infections after tick bites. Thus, it fails to do early diagnosis, causing enormous suffering to the patients. To find a solution, I am developing a new diagnostic method, that will directly detect the presence of bacteria transferred by tick bites, instead of antibodies. Since the number of bacteria is low during the early stage of infections, I will exploit a type of small vesicles released by the bacteria that are readily available in the patient's bloodstream following the tick bite. Interestingly, these vesicles carry some molecules that are unique to each bacterium. By identifying and targeting these unique molecules, I aim to deliver a novel diagnostic test, which will help detect multiple bacteria with a single test early following infection and prevent the progression to severe conditions in patients.