Sarah Fabricatore: Weeks 7, 8, and 9 at the Arthropod Borne Disease Lab SCDHS

 During my seventh and eighth week at the Suffolk County Arthropod Borne Disease Laboratory, I worked all around Long Island going to different county parks to collect ticks for state evaluation and testing. I have had amazing experiences traveling to different parks, I found it very interesting that some sites on different parts of the island would have different numbers of each species. I also got familiar with recognizing larval ticks, rabbit ticks, and Asian Longhorned ticks. I spent much of my time at the microscope, which I found to be my favorite part of the job. I feel fully confident in my ability to ID ticks without the use of a microscope, but if I am ever confused my colleagues are always there to help me. I also advanced my research on tick expansion into the northeast due to climate change, with a focus on northeastern areas and public health implications. I also analyzed 2026 email data to track the increase in Lone Star tick abundance, and performed more research on Alpha-gal. I found Alpha-gal to be a very interesting emerging topic, as I could understand it on a deeper level because of my biology and anatomy background. 

                                                   Blacklegged Nymph at a County Park Collection                                                        

During my ninth week here, I continued to go to county parks to flag for ticks, and sort them afterwards. Working here has taught me how much I love to work at a microscope and preform research. I continued piling data from our prevention email and started to track Suffolk County data on iNaturalist. I then finished my research on climate change and tick expansion and will be editing it in my tenth week. I also learned a lot this week about tick-bore diseases across the United States and researched if there were any spots that had significantly less disease and why. Overall, working at the ABDL has greatly expanded my researching skills and abilities, shown me numerous career paths, and taught me the biology behind tick-borne diseases. This opportunity is something I would recommend to everyone, I genuinely feel I have learned so much valuable information that I will take with me throughout the rest of my life. I have immensely enjoyed my time working at the ABDL, and my experiences intrigue me to explore a career in epidemiology.

                                                       Turtle Found While Collecting Ticks