A University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences assistant professor has received a two-year grant to study the genetics of Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
Jon Blevins, an assistant professor in the UAMS College of Medicine's department of microbiology and immunology, received the grant -- which totals more than $400,000 -- from the National Institutes of Health.
The goal of Blevins' team's research is to identify specific genes required by B. burgdorferi to live in a mammal or a tick.
"Despite a lot of research, there's still much more to be learned about how this bacterium causes Lyme disease," said Blevins. "The bacteria live in ticks, as well as in mammals, and we are working to understand how the bacteria adapt to survive within these two very different environments."
Metro on 06/26/2015