Jianmin Zhong, a biology professor at Humboldt State University in Northern California, has been researching ticks, tick-borne pathogens, and symbionts since 2001.
His research aims to detect tick-borne pathogens and symbionts and to control tick-borne diseases in the future.
His latest research, recently published in Ticks and Tick-borne Diseases, found that bacteria in ticks produce an enzyme that synthesizes vitamins. This finding addresses how ticks can survive in between blood meals and raises the future possibility of engineering ticks that can’t synthesize vitamins.
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