University of Nevada, Reno associate professor Monika Gulia-Nuss has been awarded a U.S. Fulbright Scholar Award to conduct research in Uruguay on ticks affecting cattle worldwide.
A University of Nevada, Reno tick researcher has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award to apply her research to try to unlock effective ways to control a tick that is wreaking havoc with cattle.
Monika Gulia-Nuss, associate professor and graduate program director in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology in the university’s College of Agriculture, Biotechnology & Natural Resources, is working closely with researchers in Uruguay.
Gulia-Nuss has broken ground in understanding the genetic code of ticks, beginning with the deer tick, which carries Lyme disease-causing bacteria that infect humans.
In the past decade, her lab has developed innovative tools to analyze and modify the ability of deer ticks to spread pathogens.
Gulia-Nuss and Michael Pham, a research scientist in the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, will travel in June to the INIA Colonia institute in southwestern Uruguay. There, Gulia-Nuss and Pham will work with researchers Alejo Menchaca of INIA and Pablo Fresia of the Pasteur Institute in Montevideo, Uruguay, to set up a suite where ticks will be raised and prepared for the injections that will allow understanding gene functions.
Early in 2025, Gulia-Nuss will return to Uruguay for a three-month tenure supported by the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Award. During that time, she’ll inject thousands of tick embryos to better understand their genetic workings. She also expects to begin some genetic modifications.
For information, visit www.unr.edu.