Dr. Maria Diuk-Wasser

Professor Maria Diuk-Wasser's research focuses on the environmental and anthropogenic factors driving the emergence of tick-borne zoonotic diseases. Her research program on Babesia microti, an agent of human babesiosis, explores multiple hypotheses explaining its reduced geographic distribution in comparison to Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease agent, as they co-circulate in Ixodes scapularis ticks and white-footed mouse populations. Her group’s integrated laboratory, field and modeling studies determined that B. microti ability to persist and spread is enhanced by host coinfection with B. burgdorferi and by B. microti vertical transmission in mice, a novel mechanism. Her current research investigates how the local host community influences B. microti infection and coinfection dynamics in a highly-modified urban setting.