Robert Lane

Professor
PhD  
  

411 Wellman Hall
Berkeley, California 94720
blane@nature.berkeley.edu
office: 510-642-4385   lab: 510-642-4385   fax:  510-643-5438

     Recent publications      People

We have been studying the ecology, epidemiology and prevention of tick-borne diseases, particularly the spirochete (bacterium) that causes Lyme disease (LD). LD currently is the most commonly reported vector-borne infection United States, and in other temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The broad objectives of this research are intended to clarify the transmission cycles of the LD spirochete and other emerging bacterial disease agents; to determine what behavioral and environmental factors place people at elevated risk for acquiring the LDS and other tick-borne infections; and to evaluate control methodologies for reducing such risk.

Several ongoing projects are aimed at expanding our knowledge of the relationship of various isolates of LD spirochetes (and other emerging tick-borne disease agents in the bacterial genera Anaplasma, Bartonella, Borrelia, and Ehrlichia) to their vectors and vertebrate hosts. Spirochetes isolated from ticks and wildlife are being characterized antigenically and genetically, and the infectivity of selected isolates for vertebrates and ticks evaluated. The ability of human and nonhuman-biting ticks to acquire, maintain and transmit the LD spirochete, and the role of lizards, birds and mammals in perpetuating it have been and still are being assessed both experimentally and in the field. Intrinsic and extrinsic factors that contribute to the vector efficiency of different ticks and to the reservoir competence of mammals also are being studied.

Another current focus of my research program is to elucidate biotic and abiotic factors that elevate the risk of human exposure to vector ticks in endemic areas of northern California, particularly in dense woodlands and mixed hardwood forests. These studies are being conducted in wildland and recreational areas, and in peri-domestic settings in both rural and semi-rural communities endemic for LD. It is anticipated that these investigations will clarify various ecological and epidemiological factors that place humans at heightened risk of exposure to the LDS and other emerging tick-borne infections at different spatial scales, and enable us to develop predictive models to assess LD risk at both the county and state levels by means of remote sensing and ground-truthing ecological studies.

The ultimate goal of this research is to use the basic knowledge gleaned from the foregoing projects to develop and implement strategies for reducing human exposure to tick-borne disease agents. To this end, several host-targeted methods for disseminating environmentally safe pesticides to rodent reservoir hosts of the LD spirochete already have been assessed. One method, the delivery of an oil-based formulation of permethrin to wood rats, has shown considerable promise for reducing populations of both vector ticks and fleas infesting this reservoir host.

Gray, J. S., Kahl, O., Lane, R. S., and Stanek, G. 2002. Lyme borreliosis: Biology, epidemiology and control. CABI Publishing. Oxon, United Kingdom.

Lane, R. S., Moss, R. B., Hsu, Y.-P., Wei, T., Mesirow, M. L., and Kuo, M. M. 1999. Anti-arthropod saliva antibodies among residents of a community at high risk for Lyme disease in California. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 61:850-859.

Tälleklint-Eisen, L. and Lane, R. S. 1999. Variation in the density of questing Ixodes pacificus (Acari: Ixodidae) nymphs infected with Borrelia burgdorferi at different spatial scales in California J. Parasitol. 85:824-831.

Lane, R. S. and Quistad, G. B. 1998. Borreliacidal factor in the blood of the western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis). J. Parasitol. 84:29-34.

Postic, D., Ras, N. M., Lane, R. S., Hendson, M., and Baranton, G. 1998. Expanded diversity among Californian Borrelia isolates and description of Borrelia bissettii sp. nov. (formerly Borrelia group DN127). J. Clin. Microbiol. 36:3497-3504.

Persing, D. H., Herwaldt, B. L., Glaser, C., Lane, R. S., Thomford, J. W., Mathiesen, D., Krause, P. J., Phillip, D. F., and Conrad, P. A. 1995. Infection with a Babesia-like organism in northern California. N. Engl. J. Med. 332:298-303.

Lane, R. S., Manweiler, S. A., Stubbs, H. A., Lennette, E. T., Madigan, J. E., and Lavoie, P. E. 1992. Risk factors for Lyme disease in a small rural community in northern California. Am. J. Epidemiol. 136:1358-1368.

Brown, R. N., and Lane, R. S. 1992. Lyme disease in California: a novel enzootic transmission cycle of Borrelia burgdorferi. Science 256:1439-1442.

Lane, R. S., Piesman, J., and Burgdorfer, W. 1991. Lyme borreliosis: relation of its causative agent to its vectors and hosts in North America and Europe. Annu. Rev. Entomol. 36:587-609.

Lane, R. S., Burgdorfer, W., Hayes, S. F., and Barbour, A. G. 1985. Isolation of a spirochete from the soft tick, Ornithodoros coriaceus: a possible agent of epizootic bovine abortion. Science 230, 85-87.