{"id":10560,"date":"2026-04-02T16:55:36","date_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/?p=10560"},"modified":"2026-04-02T16:55:36","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T16:55:36","slug":"ppp-year-9-stone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/ppp-year-9-stone\/","title":{"rendered":"Improving Rocky Mountain spotted fever prevention through molecular epidemiology"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Pilot Project, Year 9<\/h2>\n<div class=\"eplus-bg-color-row bg-color-extra-light-gray\"><div class=\"eplus-bg-color-row-content\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Summary of project:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF) remains a major public health threat in Arizona tribal communities, where the brown dog tick (BDT) transmits <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rickettsia rickettsii<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to humans.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This project examines how BDT movement patterns influence the spread of different <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rickettsia<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> strains, with the goal of improving tick-control strategies.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By studying tick population dynamics\u2014including movement, colonization, and persistence\u2014the research aims to better predict RMSF risk.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Findings will support more effective prevention efforts in areas with elevated RMSF incidence.<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Funding:<\/strong> The study is funded by NIMHD\/NIH 5U54MD012388<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3>About the investigators<\/h3>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div>\n<h4 class=\"p1\"><b>Nathan Stone, PhD<\/b><\/h4>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Principal Investigator<br \/>\n<\/b>Research Scientist, Pathogen &amp; Microbiome Institute<b><br \/>\n<\/b><b>Email: <\/b><a href=\"mailto:nathan.stone@nau.edu\"><span class=\"s1\">nathan.stone@nau.edu<b><\/b><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"p1\"><b>David M. Wagner, PhD<\/b><\/h4>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Co-Investigator<br \/>\n<\/b>Executive Director, Pathogen &amp; Microbiome Institute<b><br \/>\n<\/b><b>Email: <\/b><a href=\"mailto:dave.wagner@nau.edu\"><span class=\"s1\">dave.wagner@nau.edu<b><\/b><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<h4 class=\"p1\"><b>Kathleen Walker, PhD<\/b><\/h4>\n<p class=\"p1\"><b>Co-Investigator<br \/>\n<\/b>Associate Professor, University of Arizona Entomology &amp; Insect Science Department<b><br \/>\nEmail:\u00a0<\/b><a href=\"mailto:krwalker@cals.arizona.edu\">krwalker@cals.arizona.edu<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/pilot-project-program\/year-9\">Back to PPP Year 9<\/a><\/em><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pilot Project, Year 9 Funding: The study is funded by NIMHD\/NIH 5U54MD012388 About the investigators &nbsp; Nathan Stone, PhD Principal Investigator Research Scientist, Pathogen &amp; Microbiome Institute Email: nathan.stone@nau.edu David M. Wagner, PhD Co-Investigator Executive Director, Pathogen &amp; Microbiome Institute Email: dave.wagner@nau.edu Kathleen Walker, PhD Co-Investigator Associate Professor, University of Arizona Entomology &amp; Insect Science [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":782,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10560"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10565,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10560\/revisions\/10565"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legacy.nau.edu\/sherc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}