Ticks are unique blood-feeding parasites implicated in over 50 human and animal diseases worldwide. Dr. Isobel Ronai's research mission is to stop the suffering caused by tick-associated diseases worldwide through developing innovative control and prevention strategies for ticks. Dr. Ronai is a postdoctoral fellow (including Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellow of HHMI and American Australian Association Scholar) in the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University with Cassandra Extavour.
Dr. Ronai is currently investigating the genetics and sexual biology of the key tick species associated with Lyme disease in the United States of America, the black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis).
Previously, Dr. Ronai led research on the genetics and behaviour of ticks, supported by an Endeavour Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, at Columbia University (U.S.A.) with Maria Diuk-Wasser. She completed her award-winning Ph.D. at the University of Sydney (Australia), supervised by Benjamin Oldroyd and Paul Griffiths.
To raise awareness of the global threat posed by tick-associated diseases Dr. Ronai collaborates with government legislators, clinicians, and patients. She also writes on this important topic, see Tick management programs could help stop Lyme disease, but US funding is inadequate.
