A Scientist Is Genetically Engineering This Animal To Combat This Disease

Lyme Disease is on the rise, and it’s a terrible thing to come down with. There is no vaccine, no quick cure, and you can be left with the exhausting effects long after you initially get it.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, better know as the CDC, estimates that 300,000 become infected with Lyme each year.

Kevin Esvelt is out to combat Lyme Disease with his latest project called Mice Against Ticks. Interestingly enough, some mice can develop an immunity to the disease, but they don’t pass it on to their offspring.

That is, they don’t pass it along until Harvard’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s immunologist, Duane Wesemann, steps in. Duane can isolate the genetic code for the mice’s Lyme disease immunity and make sure it’s passed down to their offspring. How cool is that?

Hopefully, these mice will be able to be eventually released into the wild in the near future, which will result in them breeding with local populations. Over time, there should be no mice infected with Lyme, which will lead to less infected ticks, which will in turn result in humans coming down with less of the disease.