Cool Course—At the Bench: Disease Ecology
“Students like this mix—the opportunity to explore two very different fields, which are both on the cutting edge,” said Kirov.
After Killelea led students through the woods to collect ticks, Kirov stowed the vials in a cooler of dry ice to bus them back to the Silver Center.
In a series of lab activities over the following weeks, students learned to isolate tick DNA and use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods to test for the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, as well as Babesia and Anaplasma, other pathogens carried by ticks.
“Students like this mix—the opportunity to explore two very different fields, which are both on the cutting edge,” said Kirov.
After Killelea led students through the woods to collect ticks, Kirov stowed the vials in a cooler of dry ice to bus them back to the Silver Center. In a series of lab activities over the following weeks, students learned to isolate tick DNA and use polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods to test for the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, as well as Babesia and Anaplasma, other pathogens carried by ticks.
