Michiel WIJNVELD gewinnt Best Student's Presentation-Preis bei der slowakischen Konferenz "5th Labuda's Days"

An der von der Slowakischen Akademie der Wissenschaften organisierten Konferenz, die dem bedeutenden Biologen Milan Labuda gewidmet ist, wurde Ing. Michiel Wijnveld mit dem 1. Preis "Best Student's Presentation" ausgezeichnet. Sie fand von 12. bis 14. September 2018 im Schloss Smolenice statt.

Die Konferenz beschäftigt sich mit den Themenkreisen Virologie, Mikrobiologie, Zoologie, Ökologie, Epidemiologie und Parasitologie.

Wir gratulieren herzlich!

Michiel Wijnveld präsentierte folgende Arbeit:

In vitro feeding of Ixodes ricinus and Amblyomma variegatum ticks using silicon membranes
_{Michiel Wijnveld, Maria Kazimirova and Gerold Stanek}

Studying ticks under laboratory conditions has always proven to be difficult due to their need of a blood host several times during their lifespan. Over the years, alternatives for the direct use of laboratory animals have been developed. During this study we implemented one of such alternative feeding methods, using silicon-based membranes, to feed ticks. Both Ixodes ricinus larvae and Amblyomma variegatum nymphs were successfully fed.
On average, I. ricinus larvae feed five to seven days and A. variegatum nymphs feed five to ten days on a host. During in vitro feeding assays, we observed an increase in feeding time for both tick species. For I. ricinus larvae the average feeding time was seven to ten days, while A. variegatum nymphs fed for fourteen to seventeen days. This prolonged feeding time is also seen in other studies and signifies the difficulties to optimise artificial feeding of ticks.
Both I. ricinus larvae and A. variegatum nymphs successfully moulted into nymphs and adults respectively. It took I. ricinus larvae ≈ 40 days and A. variegatum ≈ 45 days to moult.
Using artificial feeding systems to rear and study ticks, introduces the possibility to standardise conditions and monitor the feeding proceedings in closer detail. Likewise, transmission dynamics of pathogens transmitted by ticks can be studied without the use of laboratory animals. Namely, while ticks feed, DNA from tick-borne microorganisms can easily be detected in the blood reservoir. Blood samples, taken from the blood used to feed ticks, can then be used for culture attempts of the specific microbes to proof that viable organisms are transmitted by the studied ticks.