What makes the Lyme disease bacterium 'tick' ?

March 20, 2021
An Interactive Session Led by Dr. Brandon Jutras

Dr. Brandon Jutras has been studying Lyme disease for more than a dozen years— first as a PhD student in the College of Medicine at the University of Kentucky, then as a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at Yale University. Over this time period, Dr. Jutras has co-authored more than 20 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals such as Nature, Science, and PNAS. In 2018, Dr. Jutras started his own research program at Virginia Tech in the Department of Biochemistry, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.  Here, the lab uses cutting-edge molecular and cellular tools to develop everything for Lyme disease therapeutics to diagnostic tools. 

Lyme disease has become one of the most discussed and debated topics in human health, affecting upwards of 400,000 Americans each year. When most people think about Lyme disease, they instantly think ticks, and for good reason— these blood-sucking arthropods are the vehicle for the disease-causing agent. But, at its core, Lyme disease is a bacterial infection. More importantly, the bacteria responsible has several unusual features that make it vastly different from all other bacteria. Join Dr. Jutras as he discusses what makes the Lyme disease bacteria ‘tick’, and what his team at Virginia Tech is doing to tackle this challenging problem.

A hands-on activity will be done after the presentation. We are mailing home Foldscopes that will require minimal, if anything, supplies from the home. Parents may be needed to assist with poking holes and handling sharp utensils for an activity.