Read about some of our ongoing research studies, or check out opportunities to be an active participant in scientific research to prevent tick encounters.

Tick Bite Protection With Permethrin-Treated Summer Clothing

Summer Clothing

Insect repellents represent one of the first lines of defense against attacks by blood feeding ticks and the diseases they can transmit. The most common products contain DEET and are applied to skin. An alternative personal-use repellent strategy is to apply repellent or toxicant products (usually permethrin) to clothing or other fabrics rather than directly on the skin.

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Anti-tick Vaccine Development

Anti-tick Vaccine Development

This project stems from the observation that an acquired tick resistance (ATR) to blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) blood feeding provides partial (~70%) protection from Lyme disease spirochete infection in a Guinea pig (GP) model. The project builds upon a suite of novel high-throughput antigen screening tools, developed over the past 5 year period.

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Area Wide Tick Control

Area-Wide Tick Control

For over a decade, Narragansett has reported one of the highest incidence rates for Lyme disease in Rhode Island. Even last year when ticks were less abundant, 1 out of every 400 residents suffered a newly identified case.

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Make A Gift Today

Are you concerned about the serious health threat caused by ticks?

Would you like to make appropriate tick-borne diseases prevention programming more widely available? If you answered yes to these questions, please consider supporting the Tick Encounter Resource Center at the University of Rhode Island. Proceeds help support tick-bite prevention programs.