Name: Consuelo Almazán
Affiliation: Autonomous University of Queretaro
Position: Adjunct Professor
Term: June 2025 – July 2025
Host researcher: Associate Prof. UMEMIYA-SHIRAFUJI Rika
Circumstances of application:
I visited the National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases (NRCPD) for the first time on February 2024. It was a short visit, but I learned to identify the longhorned tick Haemaphysalis longicornis (a health threat in North America), under Dr Rika Shirafuji laboratory. Also, I visited the Tick Bio-bank, where I learned about the research they conduct there. By then, I discussed with Dr Shirafuji the possibilities to stablish our collaboration on tick research. Therefore, I submitted a research proposal to the call as Foreign Visiting Research, NRCPD Fy 2025, that was granted so I could spend two months doing research at the NRCPD.
Research activity in NRCPD:
Currently, we have analized 140 tick samples collected from domestic (horses, dogs, cows, and cats) and wild animals (jaguars, black bears, coyotes, foxes, white-tailed deer, feral pigs, rabbits, wild boar, hares, badgers, armadillos, and mice). The morphological identification of ticks resulted in 12 species of hard ticks from the genera Amblyomma, Dermacentor, Rhipicephalus, and Ixodes; and 1 species, Otobius megnini, from soft ticks. Molecular identification of ticks was performed by targeting the 16S rDNA, 12S rDNA, and Cox1 genes. In addition, PCR reactions targetting the 18S rRNA gene of the tick-borne protozoan Babesia spp., Theileria spp., Cytauxzoon, and Hepatozoon spp. were performed. Positive samples will be sequenced and sequences analysed for species identification and phylogenetic analysis.
Future prospects:
To conduct phylogenetic analysis and characterization of the obtained sequences during these two months at the NRCPD is our short term goal. In addition, to expand our study to other regions of Mexico, emphasizing on the Northwest and the South part of the country, where ticks and tick-borne pathogens represent a problem of public and animal health, and where the interface Ticks-wild-domestic animals-humans has not been yet investigated. This last objective may allow me to extend the collaboration with researchers from this center and mentoring graduate students.