NSF Award
2304787
An award is made to Kansas State University (in collaboration with USDA Agricultural Research Service and Harvey Mudd College) to design, build, and test a digital AC-DC electropenetrograph to study the real-time feeding behaviors of blood-feeding arthropods, using ticks as the model system. Ticks and other blood-feeding arthropods transmit a wide array of medically- and veterinary-important pathogens, many of these increasingly exacerbated by climate change. An important obstacle to basic research on tick feeding behavior is the inability to capture observations and statistically analyze details of tick feeding behavior because it is masked below the surface of the host’s skin. The challenge is further compounded by the incredibly long durations over which ticks feed (~7 to 10 days for adult ticks). To address this methodological deficit, this project will develop a user- and application-friendly digital AC-DC electropenetrograph which will enable researchers to readily investigate these hidden behaviors in unprecedented detail. This project brings together a transdisciplinary team of scientists that will collectively support the training of 12 to 20 undergraduates and a postdoctoral researcher, giving them opportunities to explore this burgeoning area of research interest from diverse perspectives of engineering, computer science, and biology. Project undergraduates and the postdoctoral researcher will work in teams mentored and guided by project scientists. Trainees, recruited as broadly as possible, will interact with scientists from academia, government, and industry, affording them opportunities to investigate future career paths. Trainees will be involved in both intellectual and physical aspects of this research and will participate in the iterative evaluation of their designs tested using a combination of arthropod species: ticks (project model blood-feeding arthropod) and aphids (gold standard insect for electropenetrography research). Project scientists and trainees will also have opportunity to share project goals with broader audiences through development and delivery of related content and experiential opportunities through community and science communication engagement platforms and events (e.g. Kansas Science Fair).<br/><br/>Electropenetrography (EPG) is a transformational technology that has been used for nearly 65 years to study the masked feeding behaviors of piercing-sucking, plant-feeding insects. However, such a means of studying the basic behaviors of blood-feeding arthropods in real time, including ticks that feed for extreme durations (days to weeks), has eluded biologists for decades. Despite initial success with tick and mosquito feeding recordings using the existing analog AC-DC electropenetrograph, this instrumentation presents notable physical limitations for working with blood-feeding arthropods on vertebrate hosts. Developing a more user- and application-friendly digital AC-DC electropenetrograph will solve this challenge and enable ground-breaking investigations to detect, characterize, and quantify the progressive and highly coordinated feeding behaviors performed by ticks and other blood-feeding arthropods. Hypothesis-driven studies can then be performed to study basic feeding biology and investigate how host factors, vector characteristics, pathogens, and chemical interventions specifically modify hidden arthropod blood-feeding behaviors. In this project, the digital AC-DC electropenetrograph will be evaluated over the course of three scientific objectives: (i) Design and build a prototype digital AC-DC electropenetrograph and associated software to record tick feeding on an unsedated live host; (ii) Iteratively evaluate versions of the prototype instrument with live ticks and live host, and modify prototype as needed; and, (iii) Demonstrate the usability of the digital AC-DC electropenetrograph to record and statistically compare tick feeding behaviors upon applications of a behavior-interdicting compound. Successful completion of this research will deliver a user-friendly, commercializable instrument and associated software that will: 1) accelerate expansion of electropenetrography from plant-feeding insects into blood-feeding arthropods, 2) ensure the continued availability of this crucial infrastructure through an evolved digital instrument design, and 3) allow faster high-throughput uses through development-associated machine learning software. Project outcomes will include development of a user-friendly, digital AC-DC electropenetrograph and supporting ‘arthropod species flexible’ software. This novel research instrument will spur new opportunity for a broad community of researchers interested in improving the resiliency of animal and plant agriculture from blood-feeding and plant feeding arthropods.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
