Tom G. Schwan, Ph.D.
Chief, Laboratory of Zoonotic Pathogens
Chief, Medical Entomology Section
Senior Investigator
Medical Entomology Section
Dr. Schwan received his Ph.D. in 1983 in parasitology from the University of California at Berkeley, studying the ecology of fleas and plague in Lake Nakuru National Park, Kenya. From 1983 to 1986, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale Arbovirus Research Unit, Yale University School of Medicine, studying tickborne viruses. He joined the Rocky Mountain Laboratories in 1986. He served on the editorial board of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology for 9 years and is on the editorial boards of Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases and Emerging Infectious Diseases.
Description of Research Program
The Medical Entomology Section investigates bacterial pathogens transmitted by blood-feeding arthropods. Emphasis is directed toward the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, and a relapsing fever spirochete, Borrelia hermsii, in their respective tick vectors. Other pathogenic spirochetes are also studied. Live colonies of ticks allow for studies to elucidate factors important for the infection of these bacteria in arthropods and for their biological transmission when ticks feed. Understanding bacterial adaptations associated with transmission is linked to developing better prevention and diagnostic strategies.
Major Areas of Research
- Adaptations of Borrelia spirochetes in ticks
- Genetic diversity of Lyme disease and relapsing fever spirochetes
- Development of better serological tests for human spirochetal infection
- Genomic studies of relapsing fever spirochetes
- Elucidation of geographic areas of risk for relapsing fever
Research Group Members
Left to right: Tom Schwan, Job Lopez, Sandy Stewart, Colleen Miller, Merry Schrumpf, Paul Policastro, Tammi Johnson, Brandi McCoy and Bob Fischer.
Selected Publications
(View list in PubMed.)
Schwan, T.G., Raffel, S.J., Schrumpf, M.E., Webster, L.S., Marques, A.R., Spano, R., Rood, M., Burns, J., and Hu, Renjie. Tick-borne relapsing fever and Borrelia hermsii, Los Angeles County, California, USA. Emerging Infect. Dis. 15: 1026-1031, 2009.
Lopez, J.E., Porcella, S.F., Schrumpf, M.E., Raffer, S.J., Hammer, C.H., Zhao, M., Robinson, M.A., and Schwan, T.G. Identification of conserved antigens for early serodiagnosis of relapsing fever Borrelia. Microbiology: 155: 2641-2651, 2009.
Schwan, T.G., Raffel, S.J., Schrumpf, M.E., Gill, J.S., and Piesman, J. Characterization of a Novel Relapsing Fever Spirochete in the Midgut, Coxal Fluid and Salivary Glands of the Bat Tick Carios kelleyi. Vector-Borne Zoonotic Diseases 9: in press, 2009.
Lopez, J.E., Schrumpf, M.E., Raffel, S.J., Policastro, P.F., Porcella, S.F., and Schwan, T.G. Relapsing fever spirochetes retain infectivity after prolonged in vitro cultivation. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases 8:813-820, 2008.
Battisti, J.M., Raffel, S.J., and Schwan, T.G. A system for site-specific genetic manipulation of the relapsing fever spirochete Borrelia hermsii. In: Methods in Molecular Biology 431: Bacterial Pathogenesis Methods and Protocols, pp 69-84, Eds. DeLeo, F.R., and Otto, M., Humana Press, Totowa, NJ., 2008.
Schwan, T.G., Raffel, S.J., Schrumpf, M.E., and Porcella, S.F. Diversity and distribution of Borrelia hermsii. Emerging Infect. Dis. 13:436-442, 2007.
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