KAREN PRINE. PhD Student. Karen is a graduate of University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine and has been practicing veterinary medicine since 1996. She has worked with both large and small animals throughout her career. Additionally, Karen is a veteran of the United States Army where she served in the Veterinary Corps servicing service members’ privately owned animals, military working dogs, cavalry horses, and also performing quality assurance inspections of companies that supply food for our troops. She received a Master’s in Forensic Toxicology. Karen has returned to Gainesville to complete a doctorate in Interdisciplinary Ecology from the School of Natural Resources with a major focus in entomology. Her current research is focused on tick-borne rickettsiosis in Florida, specifically Rickettsia parkeri, as well as a recently discovered potentially pathogenic rickettsia found in Amblyomma tuberculatum, the gopher tortoise tick.
CAPTAIN NICHOLAS TUCKER. Master’s student. Nick is a Captain in the United States Army and his current assignment is to complete a Master’s of Science at the University of Florida. Captain Tucker has served for 12 years, four of which as an entomologist in the Medical Service Corps. Captain Tucker’s research is focused on pesticide resistance and Rickettsia in the brown dog tick, Rhipicephlaus sanguineus. Nick will be conducting biological and molecular assays on brown dog tick samples submitted from around the world for genetic resistance to permethrin and etofenprox. He plans to screen these samples for associated canine pathogens.pathogens.