Madison Area Lyme Support Group

Announcing TRED – “Tick Research to Eliminate Diseases: Scientist Coalition”

April 11, 2017 Announcement – For Distribution

Announcing the formation of a consortium of scientists titled, “Tick Research to Eliminate Diseases: Scientist Coalition (TRED).” TRED is a group of scientists, who joined together for synergy in promoting the need to address the ticks, the primary vector, as an answer to the environmental piece of this puzzle of Lyme and Tick-Borne Diseases.

TRED GOALS

1. Educate policy makers about the seriousness of tick-borne disease, and demonstrate the necessity and efficiency of addressing this serious problem at the source, the ticks.

2. Increase tick-borne disease research funding which specifically addresses the reduction of the tick population and/or blocking the ability of ticks to transmit all TBDs at federal, state and county levels.

3. Develop, test and implement research technologies to reduce incidence of tick-borne disease by reducing the risk of exposure to ticks and pathogens.

4. Coordinated implementation of these TBD prevention measures by federal, state, local governments and the public.

5. Representation by a Scientist in the field of Tick Research to the Federal Workgroup as described in Section 2062 of the 21st Century Cures Act.

Tick Research to Eliminate Diseases: Scientist Coalition (TRED) Membership List

Apperson, Charles S., PhD
Dept. of Entomology and Plant Pathology
N. C. State University

Barbour, Alan G., MD
Author: Lyme Disease: Why It’s Spreading, How It Makes You Sick, and What to Do about It
Professor of Medicine, Microbiology & Molecular Genetics, and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
University of California Irvine

Barthold, Stephen W., DVM, PhD
Distinguished Professor, Emeritus
Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of California at Davis

Benach, Jorge, PhD
Distinguished Toll Professor of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and Pathology
Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Stony Brook University

Breitschwerdt, Ed DVM, DACVIM
Professor, Internal Medicine
Adjunct Professor of Medicine, Duke University Medical Center
North Carolina State University
Lab: Vector Borne Disease Diagnostics
Director, NCSU Biosafety Level III Laboratory
PI for the Intracellular Pathogens Research Laboratory, Center for Comparative Medicine
https://cvm.ncsu.edu/directory/breitschwerdt-ed/
http://www.cancer.duke.edu/comparativeoncology/people/ed-breitschwerdt

Kevin M. Esvelt, Ph.D.
Leader, Sculpting Evolution Group
Assistant Professor, MIT Media Lab
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
www.sculptingevolution.org

Fallon, Brian A., M.D.
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Director of the Lyme and Tick-borne Diseases Research Center
Columbia University Medical Center

Sarah A. Hamer, MS PhD DVM Dipl ACVPM
Assistant Professor
Associate Wildlife Biologist®
Department of Veterinary Integrative Biosciences and
Interdisciplinary Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Texas A&M University
http://vetmed.tamu.edu/vibs/directorydetail?userid=11671
http://vetmed.tamu.edu/faculty/hamer-lab

Hodzic, Emir DVM, MSci, PhD
Real-time PCR Research and Diagnostics Core Facility
School of Veterinary Medicine
Department of Medicine and Epidemiology
University of California, Davis

HU, Linden, MD
Professor of Molecular Biology & Microbiology
Tufts University
Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences
http://sackler.tufts.edu/Faculty-and-Research/Faculty-Profiles/Linden-Hu-Profile

Esteve-Gassent, Maria
Assistant Professor
Veterinary Pathobiology
College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
Texas A&M University
https://vetmed.tamu.edu/labs/lyme-lab

Holly Gaff, PhD
Associate Professor
Graduate Program Director, PhD in Ecological Sciences
Department of Biological Sciences
Old Dominion University
http://www.odu.edu/~hgaff
Honorary Associate Professor
Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science
University of KwaZulu-Natal
South Africa

Lane, Robert, PhD
Professor Emeritus of Medical Entomology
Department of Environmental Science,
Policy and Management
University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720

Luft, Ben, MD
Professor of Medicine
SUNY Stony Brook, NY

Maggi, Ricardo, PhD
Intracellualr Pathogens Research Lab,
College of Veterinary Medicine
Raleigh, NC 2760

Mather, Tom N., PhD
Professor & Director URI Center for Vector-Borne Disease
University of Rhode Island
http://www.tickencounter.org/
http://tickencounter.org/news/stuff_you_should_know_tick_image

Nieto, Nathan C, PhD
http://nau.edu/CEFNS/NatSci/Biology/Faculty-Staff/Faculty-Pages/Nathan-C-Nieto/
Assistant Professor of Microbiology
Northern Arizona University
Department of Biological Sciences
College of Engineering, Forestry, and Natural Sciences

Ostfeld, Richard S. PhD
Author: Lyme Disease: The Ecology of a Complex System, and Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Ecosystems on Disease and of Disease on Ecosystem
Disease Ecologist, PhD U of CA, Berkeley
Cary Institute Ecosystem Studies’
http://www.caryinstitute.org/science-program/our-scientists/dr-richard-s-ostfeld

Roe, R. Michael, PhD
William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor
Department of Entomology
North Carolina State University
http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10507

Sonenshine, Dan, PhD
Author: “The Biology of Ticks” Vol 1 & 2
Professor Emeritus at Old Dominion
Department of Biological Sciences
Old Dominion University
http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10507

Kirby C. Stafford III, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, State Entomologist
Department of Entomology
Center for Vector Biology and Zoonotic Diseases
NE Regional Center for Excellence in Vector Borne Diseases
The Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station
Website: www.ct.gov/caes

Telford, Sam, PhD
Professor, Vector-Borne Infections, Public Health
Department of Infectious Disease and Global Health
Tufts University
Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University
http://vetprofiles.tufts.edu/faculty/sam-r-telford-i

Thangamani,Saravanan, M.Sc., Ph.D
Associate Professor,
Director, Insectary Services Core, Galveston National Laboratory,
Director, ACL-3 Laboratory,
Member, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity,
Member, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases,
Department of Pathology,
University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB),
Web: https://www.utmb.edu/pathology/faculty/bios/thangamani.asp

Jean Tsao, PhD
Department of Fisheries & Wildlife
Michigan State University East Lansing, MI
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jean_Tsao2

Wikel, Stephen, PhD
Professor emeritus
Frank H Netter MD, School of Medicine
previous
Senior Associate Dean for Scholarship, Professor and Chairman, Department of Medical Sciences St. Vincent’s Medical Center Endowed Chair Frank H. Netter, M.D., School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University
and
Professor of Pathology, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases
University of Texas Medical Branch
https://www.vectorbase.org/organisms/ixodes-scapularis/wikel
http://www.keystonesymposia.org/index.cfm?e=Web.Meeting.Flyer&MeetingID=1349
http://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms10507

Jill Auerbach
Tick Research to Eliminate Diseases: Scientist Coalition, Coordinator
NYS Senator Serino’s Advisiory Board on Lyme and TBD, Co-chair
Hudson Valley Lyme Disease Association, Chairperson
Dutchess County Legislative Tick Task Force, Member
Stop Ticks On People (S.T.O.P.), Board Member
NYS Coalition on Lyme and Tick-borne Disease, Member
Public Integrated Pest Management Work Group, Member

Microbiologist Tom Grier – Talk Reminder April 19, 2017

https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2017/03/20/microbiologist-tom-grier-to-speak-in-april/  Please see this link for details on talk on April 19, at 6:00 p.m. at the Superior Public Library in Minnesota.

This slide prepared by the Dr. Paul H Duray Pathology Research Fellowship shows Borrelia myamotoi in the blood.

As a rule the Tick Borne Relapsing Fevers allow the Borrelia bacteria to remain in the blood-stream in higher numbers and for longer periods of time than Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi) The current Blood serologies including the much promoted C6-Peptide ELISA test cannot detect B. myamotoi or any of the Relapsing Fevers, but more importantly the ELISA and Western Blots cannot detect 9 other “Lyme Disease Species” including several newer species in Minnesota, B. bissettii, B, americana, B. mayonii, Excluded are also: B. afezili , B garinii, B valaisianna, B. lusitanaea.  This is bad because people travel. If you get Malaria in Costa Rica we still expect our doctors to diagnose it, so why not Borrelia amricanna?

Our Research Lab has proprietary immune fluorescent DNA probe stains (FISH Stains for 3 species of Borrelia including Borelia mayonii.  Without our B. myamotoi stain the patient below who tested negative for B. burgdorferi would have never been diagnosed with B. myamotoi. Unfortunately she already had dementia, and our 112 Alzheimer Brain-Bank samples showed that B. myamotoi is the most common pathogen we could find in the human brain with dementia. We have been providing our evidence of B. myamotoi in the human brain since 2012, but now Drexel University and Johns Hopkins Medical are replicating our work.   Sadly, our FISH stains are picking up B. burgdorferi in brain and blood of patients who have tested negative with serology Lyme testing. 

This patient is referred to as a positive control for staining because this logger of 40 years from TWIG MN had two species of Borrelia in his brain, heart and testicle, and other tissues and fluids.  B. mayonii in his testicle is the only B. mayonii we have come across in any sample!

Tom Grier

donatebrain@gmail.com

218-728-3914

For more on Grier’s work:  https://madisonarealymesupportgroup.com/2016/12/19/microbiologist-tom-grier/