Our current objectives are to differentiate immune effector profiles in the skin after tick transmission of spotted fever group Rickettsia species (SFGR) of varying disease potential and virulence and to identify biomarkers for the disease, spotted fever rickettsiosis (SFR).

We contributed to the development of the guinea pig-tick-SFGR system by developing a polychromatic FCM assay for immunophenotyping peripheral blood leukocytes, then expanded the assay to assess skin tissue at the tick-bite site where host-pathogen hostilities commence and continue to expand and modify as appropriate reagents become available. We developed an ELISA for evaluating the antibody response to SFGR in guinea pigs and a suite of optimized qPCR assays for our guinea pig-tick-SFGR experimental system.

We hypothesize that unique local immune profiles generated from guinea pigs exposed to tick-transmitted SFGR that differ in virulence will reveal potential mechanisms driving response to SFGR under natural conditions. Further, biomarkers selected based on rickettsial tropism during acute infection will be informative for monitoring SFR development and clearance. Our rationale is that immune effectors and biomarkers in a relevant model system will best clarify SFR and reliable approaches to treatment and diagnostics.

Below are some of our publications, selected to introduce you to the guinea pig model in SFR research and to the protocols we developed, which we continue to use and expand for our ongoing studies.

Selected Publications

Please click the thumbnail below to read the full article.

A thumbnail of an article titled "The guinea pig model for tick-borne spotted rickettsioses: A second look"
A thumbnail of an article titled: Beyond the IFA: Revisiting the ELISA as a More Sensitive Objective, and Quantitative Evaluation of Spotted Fever Group Rickettsia Exposure"
A thumbnail of an article titled :An optimized five-color/seven-parameter flow cytometry panel for immunophenotyping guinea pig peripheral blood lymphocytes"
A thumbnail of an article titled "Evaluating the clinical and immune responses to spotted fever rickettsioses in the guinea pig-tick-rickettsia system"
A thumbnail of an article titled "Skin in the game: an essay to monitor leuokocyte infiltration in dermal lesions of guinea pig model for the tick-borne rickettsiosis"
A thumbnail of an article titled "Multiplex TaqMan® Quantitative PCR assays for host-tick-pathogen studies using the guinea pig-tick-rickettsia system"

Our research is currently supported by the NIAID (NIH) under Award Number R01AI179924. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.