Robert Pinger, director of Ball State's Public Health/Entomology Laboratory, and IUB researchers have been awarded a combined total of $1.88 million by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

The grant should allow researchers to learn more about the epidemiology of tick-borne diseases as well as how non-pathogenic microbes replace out pathogenic ones, reducing the spread of disease, Pinger said.

“Ball State has an active program conducting research on ticks and has provided community service in this field for more than 20 years,” he said. “Indiana University researchers bring other types of expertise necessary to determine how these microorganisms interact. Down the road it should be beneficial to people who come into contact with ticks.”

Ball State will receive $375,000 over five years as its portion of the research project.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: For more information, contact Pinger at rpinger@bsu.edu or (765) 285-5961.)