ORONO, Maine (WABI) – The University of Maine is expanding its tick lab as ticks become more widespread across the state.
Griffin Dill, tick lab director at UMaine, said the lab has seen more ticks and higher rates of tick-borne disease.
“We’ve really seen increasing tick population, increasing rates of tick-borne disease,” Dill said.
The UMaine tick lab is working to research and understand how to address Maine’s tick problem.
“So trying to get a better handle on what’s causing this expansion, not just in the geography of ticks and their associated pathogens, but also in that increasing rate of tick-borne disease,” Dill said.
The lab is being expanded to add genetic and genealogy research. The research looks at the entire DNA structure of a tick that carries pathogens that could cause Lyme disease.
Tom Rounsville, director of the Applied Genetics and Genomics Lab, said sequencing the genomes of many of these pathogens could lead to new treatments.
“So, if you go through and sequence the genomes of a large number of these pathogens, it’s possible you might be able to find genes to target for new drug development or some other types of therapies that could be created,” Rounsville said.
The research is powered by submissions from Mainers. Anyone can send the lab a tick found on themselves, on someone else or on a pet.
Dill and Rounsville said the lab can receive between a dozen and 100 ticks a day.
Testing the submissions is an opportunity for UMaine students, Rounsville said.
“They’ll identify ticks microscopically when they come into the lab, prep them for testing, and then take them through the testing process,” Rounsville said.
Information from the tests can help determine where in the state a tick bite is more likely to carry an illness.
Dill said the focus is on understanding ticks and tick movement, not on killing the pest.
“We’re never, you know, advocating for the eradication of a species,” Dill said. “But we want people to be aware of this issue. We want to minimize the effects of ticks and tick-borne diseases and really allow people to enjoy the Maine outdoors.”
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