Canadian tick researcher makes breakthrough at new 'tickery'
A researcher from Acadia University is revolutionizing tick protection with a groundbreaking, all-natural fabric spray that repels ticks for up to a week. The Weather Network was given a first look at Canada's first-ever tickery, a Canadian Tick Research and Innovation Centre.
Nicoletta Faraone is heading up the new Canadian Tick Research and Innovation Centre, or tickery, the first of its kind in the country at Acadia University.
The Nova Scotia researcher just won a prestigious Mitacs Innovation Award for developing a tick repellent that can remain effective after being sprayed on fabric, a first of it’s kind.
Nova Scotians face the highest number of ticks per capita, and the most cases of Lyme disease in Canada.
The new product was developed in collaboration with AtlanTick repellent products, based in essential oils.
The formulation is able to encapsulate the active ingredient so it is protected and able to stick onto fabric, to be slowly released over time, providing long-lasting protection against ticks.
Ticks in a vile at Acadia University. (Nathan Coleman/The Weather Network)
“It’s something that you directly apply. You spray on your clothing and just let it dry, and then they are ready to go," said Faraone, a Acadia University researcher.
And it’s not only for your clothing.
It can be applied to your camping gear or a backpack.
The research supported by Mitacs helped along the development of a fabric spray. It’s very close to registration through Health Canada, and the hope is to have it on the market by next summer.
Once opened, the new tickery will allow Faraone to rear and sell ticks for research, and expand the knowledge and understanding of the ecology of ticks.
“We enter here, and then we close the door. Then, there will be another door. This is making sure that anything that is inside here won’t escape," said Faraone.
(Erik Karits/Pexels)
She says this will be more ethically sustainable and will minimize the use of live animals for research purposes.
As of now, there is only one facility in North America that sells ticks––at Oklahoma State University––but the ticks are genetically different than the ones from Canada.