Abstract
- I will be investigating the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi in ticks collected from the Southeastern North Carolina coastal region. B. burgdorferi is the causative agent of Lyme disease which routinely causes disseminated infection in immunocompetent hosts. Over 800 ticks have been collected from deer harvested in Brunswick, Pender, Columbus, New Hanover, and Duplin counties, and DNA has been extracted from approximately 200 samples. I will be conducting polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis to evaluate the presence of B. burgdorferi. I am requesting $291 for the 2x Master Mix and the DNA Gel Stain both of which are necessary to run PCR and gel electrophoresis.