Project ARTEMIS Component Web

Project ARTEMIS component web

Host-targeted tick management pipeline

A clickable map of the Project ARTEMIS components. Each node links to a concise project description, showing how discovery, formulation, deer and rodent deployment, field evaluation, and future integrated tick management fit together.

Project ARTEMIS web graphic

Clickable SVG - nodes link to component descriptions below.

Interactive web diagram of Project ARTEMIS components Project ARTEMIS is shown as a center node connected to component nodes for drug formulation, delivery chemistry, vaccines, rumen protection, deer field operations, rodent bait, epidemiology, C-VERS, Project Chappy, Project ITCH, and integrated tick management outputs. Project ARTEMIS Area-wide Reduction of Ticks through Ecological Management and Integrated Strategies Anti-tick vaccine antigen discovery Verardi / UConn WTD rumen protection Callaway / UGA Free-ranging deer field operations Feehan / MassWildlife Field epidemiology and risk outcomes Telford / Tufts Project ITCH residential sites 2023-2025 baselines Rodent-targeted bait strategy Li / USDA-ARS Acaricide discovery and slow release Thayumanavan / UMass Delivery chemistry prodrugs + BNEs Rotello / UMass C-VERS captive WTD testing Project Chappy MV field prototype Yard + public space sampling Roden-Reynolds / Mather Future ITM plan rodent + deer components
1. DiscoverIdentify acaricides, antimicrobials, and antigens with host-targeted promise.
2. FormulateProtect active ingredients for oral bait delivery and host uptake.
3. CharacterizeMeasure PK/PD, safety, bait uptake, tick mortality, and pathogen endpoints.
4. DeployTest deer and rodent components in bounded field platforms and residential sites.
5. IntegrateAssemble evidence-based deer and rodent tools into future ITM plans.

Component descriptions

These summaries translate the attached project descriptions into a linked web of functions, handoffs, and field outcomes.

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Project ARTEMIS overview

UMass Amherst / NEWVEC lead hub

ARTEMIS is organized as a translational host-targeted pipeline: screen candidates, test deer interventions at C-VERS, test rodent interventions through mouse bait studies, deploy optimized formulations through field platforms, and assemble effective components into future integrated tick management.

  • Backronym: Area-wide Reduction of Ticks through Ecological Management and Integrated Strategies.
  • Primary field platforms: C-VERS, Project Chappy / Martha's Vineyard, and Project ITCH residential properties.
  • Decision focus: measurable reductions in tick survival, feeding, fecundity, pathogen acquisition, or human-risk indicators.
Lead hubPipelineITM

Acaricide discovery and slow-release oral formulation

Dr. S. Thai Thayumanavan / UMass Center for Bioactive Delivery

This workstream develops slow-releasing oral formulations that can keep active anti-parasitic compounds available long enough to affect feeding ticks while clearing from deer on a defined safety timeline.

  • Target profile: activity for roughly 8-10 weeks after administration and clearance by week 20.
  • Primary chemistry space: oxazolines, macrocyclic lactones, and phenolic candidates, with attention to hydrophobicity and size.
  • Delivery platform: alginate hydrogels combined with tunable PEG-PLGA encapsulation.
AcaricidesPEG-PLGAControlled release

Delivery chemistry: prodrugs and biopolymer nanoemulsions

Dr. Vincent Rotello / UMass Department of Chemistry

This component addresses practical field-delivery problems for wildlife acaricides: ingestion, oral uptake efficiency, and duration of activity.

  • Strategy 1: synthesize prodrug analogs of fluralaner and lotilaner using fatty or hydrophobic modifiers to improve uptake and retention before conversion back to active drug.
  • Strategy 2: use gelatin-and-oil biopolymer nanoemulsions to encapsulate drugs, improve oral uptake, and enable feedstock or vegetation coating.
  • Testing path: in vitro screening followed by in vivo mouse models for pharmacokinetics, biodistribution, toxicity, and biocompatibility.
ProdrugsNanoemulsionsPK/BD/tox

Anti-tick vaccine antigen discovery and oral platforms

Dr. Paulo H. Verardi / University of Connecticut

The vaccine platform identifies antigens from tick transcriptomic data, builds bait-compatible oral vaccine systems, and hands lead candidates to ARTEMIS collaborators for formulation and field-compatible delivery.

  • Aim 1: transcriptomic sequencing across feeding stages of I. scapularis and A. americanum to identify candidate antigens.
  • Aim 2: recombinant vaccinia and engineered probiotic oral vaccine platforms.
  • Aim 3 handoff: lead candidates move into bait formulation for deer and reservoir rodent populations.
AntigensOral vaccineDeer + rodents

White-tailed deer rumen physiology and protective encapsulation

Dr. Todd Callaway / University of Georgia

Oral delivery to deer must survive the rumen. This project tests whether acaricides and vaccine platforms are degraded, transformed, bound, or sequestered before reaching the lower gastrointestinal tract.

  • Initial surrogate model: goat ruminal fluid in batch culture and continuous-flow fermenter systems.
  • Target-species check: white-tailed deer rumen fluid from hunter-harvested animals where feasible.
  • Protection strategies: pH-triggered coatings, lipid nanoparticles, polymer microspheres, and plant-based delivery vectors.
RumenEncapsulationWTD translation

C-VERS captive deer testing platform

Cervid-Vector Ecology Research Station / NEWVEC + MassWildlife

C-VERS provides the controlled deer-testing step between laboratory discovery and field deployment, enabling tick-deer ecological studies and pre-field evaluation of deer-targeted tick intervention agents.

  • Near-term use: benchmark fluralaner and another active ingredient in captive deer.
  • Core endpoints: tick feeding, tick burden, PK/PD, seasonal cohort effects, and deer response.
  • Role in pipeline: a go/no-go gate before free-ranging deer or community deployment.
Captive WTDPK/PDGo/no-go

Free-ranging deer operations and wildlife management

Dr. Martin Feehan / MassWildlife

This workstream converts deer-targeted products into operational field trials using deer density data, treatment and control sites, capture/collar methods, drone surveys, and tick burden measurement.

  • Site logic: use aerial drone deer-density surveys to identify spatially distinct study areas.
  • Field methods: capture, GPS collaring, treatment delivery, recapture, tick burden reassessment, and annual infrared drone surveys.
  • Downstream use: GPS and habitat analyses inform ITM actions such as targeted habitat modification and deer movement barriers.
Deer densityGPS collarsTick burdens

Rodent-targeted bait strategy

Dr. Andrew Li / USDA-ARS Beltsville Agricultural Research Center

This component develops medicated rodent baits that target white-footed mice and other small mammals that host immature blacklegged ticks and harbor Borrelia burgdorferi.

  • Formulation screen: 15-20 natural and synthetic acaricidal or antimicrobial compounds incorporated into standard mouse bait.
  • Laboratory endpoints: bait acceptance, daily intake, mouse serum concentration by GC-MS, Borrelia-killing efficacy, tick attachment, feeding, and mortality.
  • Field endpoint: Sherman trapping of mice, shrews, and other small mammals, plus tick examination and questing tick flagging.
  • ARTEMIS field fit: candidates can be evaluated through Project ITCH residential sites, providing yard-scale evidence for future ITM.
White-footed miceBorreliaRodent bait

Project ITCH residential properties

Residential field platform sampled in 2023-2025

Project ITCH gives ARTEMIS a residential testing layer: properties with pre-intervention sampling histories, homeowner permissions, and yard-level tick and pathogen baselines.

  • Use in ARTEMIS: evaluate rodent bait boxes in the same environments where residents make tick-bite prevention decisions.
  • Outcome focus: yard tick density, pathogen prevalence, rodent uptake, small-mammal tick burdens, and residential-risk indicators.
  • Integration role: link rodent-targeted control to deer-targeted work so both can become complementary pieces of future ITM plans.
Residential yardsBaseline dataRodent deployment

Project Chappy / Martha's Vineyard field prototype

Community platform for bounded proof-of-concept field work

Project Chappy provides a geographically bounded, community-supported field prototype that ARTEMIS can scale into randomized treatment and control studies across Martha's Vineyard.

  • Community assets: Chappaquiddick Island Association and Tick-Free Martha's Vineyard support access, logistics, and homeowner recruitment.
  • Use in ARTEMIS: deploy prioritized candidates in treatment and control sites with deer, tick, pathogen, KAB, and residential-risk endpoints.
  • Strategic role: bridge from C-VERS and lab studies to larger-area field evaluation.
ChappaquiddickMV scale-upCommunity access

Yard, public-space, pathogen, and KAB sampling

Patrick Roden-Reynolds + Dr. Tom Mather / field operations

This component measures whether host-targeted interventions change the tick-risk environment encountered by residents and visitors.

  • Sampling spaces: yards, trails, conservation areas, and public spaces.
  • Entomological outcomes: tick density, infection prevalence, life-stage structure, and encounter indicators.
  • Human-facing outcomes: knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to ticks and tick-borne diseases.
Yard samplingPathogensKAB

Field epidemiology and public-health impact measurement

Dr. Sam Telford III / Tufts University

This workstream evaluates intervention impact using seroconversion methods, questionnaires, and contextual ecological measurements that help interpret human-risk signals.

  • Human-risk measures: serosurveys and questionnaires to estimate incidence and exposure.
  • Alpha-gal context: self-reported case analyses and serologic testing of current and archived samples.
  • Ecological interpretation: host bloodmeal identification for ticks, including the contribution of non-deer hosts to Lone Star tick populations.
SerologyQuestionnairesBloodmeals

Future integrated tick management plan

The ARTEMIS web is designed so deer-targeted and rodent-targeted components are not isolated products. They become decision-ready tools that can be combined with field surveillance, community KAB work, and habitat or access strategies in a future ITM plan.

Rodent-targeted controlMedicated baits address immature blacklegged ticks and reservoir-host pathogen dynamics in residential settings.
Deer-targeted controlOral acaricide or vaccine baits aim to reduce adult tick feeding, survival, and reproduction on white-tailed deer.
Field surveillanceTick density, infection prevalence, deer movement, rodent uptake, and human-risk indicators guide refinement.
Community practiceHomeowner permissions, KAB surveys, and local partners support implementation and risk communication.
Regulatory pathSafety, residue, formulation, and commercial engagement move candidates toward operational use.
Adaptive deploymentResults from C-VERS, Project Chappy, MV, and Project ITCH inform where each tool is most useful.

Source basis: attached Project ARTEMIS proposal and component descriptions for Thayumanavan, Rotello, Verardi, Callaway, Feehan, Li, Telford, Project Chappy, C-VERS, and Project ITCH. This is a self-contained HTML page with internal hyperlinks; it can be opened locally or posted to a static web host.