Medical Entomology

  • The ecology and epidemiology of medically important arthropods, primarily ticks, are studied, focusing on vector species and vector-borne zoonotic pathogens.
  • The research is conducted in parallel in several directions in the context of "One Health":
    1. Population genetic and faunistic studies on vectors;
    2. Role of wildlife in enzootic cycles of tick-borne pathogens;
    3. Isolation, cultivation, and characterization of tick-borne pathogens of relevance to human and veterinary medicine;
    4. Investigation of the functions of tick saliva components and their potential applications.

NEXT THREE YEARS:

  • Research will be clustered into two segments:

Basic research will include

  1. Identification of foci of vector-borne zoonoses and elements of enzootic cycles   (vector, pathogen, host reservoir), the influence of environmental factors on cycle   dynamics and impact on accidental hosts (humans and domestic animals),
  2. In vitro isolation, characterization, and identification of mechanisms of   resistance of vector-borne pathogens,
  3. Investigation of the function of tick saliva for ingestion of blood meals.

 

We are opening up the segment of innovation activities as well

    1.  Development of products based on active biocomponents from ticks (potential   use of salivary proteins as new therapeutics, natural food preservatives, and   antimicrobial agents),
    2.  Development of tests for assesment of exposure to ticks and tick-borne   pathogens,
    3.  Development of models for morphological identification of ticks based on   artificial intelligence and machine learning.
    4. Since 2010, the Group has been part of the Centre of Excellence for Food and Vector-borne Zoonoses.

Head of the Research Group

Senior research associate

Snežana Tomanović

Senior research associate

Snežana Tomanović

Dr Snežana Tomanović, Professor of research, is Head of the Group for Medical Entomology and Head of the Centre of Excellence for Food- and Vector-borne Zoonoses. She graduated in 1996, received her Master’s degree in 2004, and her PhD in 2009 from the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade. Since 2005 she has been working at the Institute of Medical Research and is an accredited lecturer at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, for the Medical Entomology course in the Master’s program and an accredited mentor and lecturer in the PhD programme. Since 2022, he has been a member of the Higher Scientific Committee for Biology of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technological Development. Dr Snežana Tomanović’s field of work and interest is medical entomology with a focus on the study of ticks as vectors and tick-borne pathogens. She has published more than 50 papers in international journals, led one national and two bilateral projects, reviewed more than 40 papers for international journals and several international projects. As one of the authors of the monograph “Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae, Argasidae) in Serbia”, he was awarded the Prize of the City of Belgrade in 2012.

Email:snezanat@imi.bg.ac.rs

Group Members

Senior research associate

Snežana Tomanović
SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Darko Mihaljica
Research associate

Gorana Veinović
Research associate

Ratko Sukara
Research associate

Valentina Cirkovic

Senior research associate

Snežana Tomanović

Dr Snežana Tomanović, Professor of research, is Head of the Group for Medical Entomology and Head of the Centre of Excellence for Food- and Vector-borne Zoonoses. She graduated in 1996, received her Master’s degree in 2004, and her PhD in 2009 from the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade. Since 2005 she has been working at the Institute of Medical Research and is an accredited lecturer at the Faculty of Biology, University of Belgrade, for the Medical Entomology course in the Master’s program and an accredited mentor and lecturer in the PhD programme. Since 2022, he has been a member of the Higher Scientific Committee for Biology of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Technological Development. Dr Snežana Tomanović’s field of work and interest is medical entomology with a focus on the study of ticks as vectors and tick-borne pathogens. She has published more than 50 papers in international journals, led one national and two bilateral projects, reviewed more than 40 papers for international journals and several international projects. As one of the authors of the monograph “Ticks (Acari: Ixodidae, Argasidae) in Serbia”, he was awarded the Prize of the City of Belgrade in 2012.

Email:snezanat@imi.bg.ac.rs

SENIOR RESEARCH ASSOCIATE

Darko Mihaljica

Darko Mihaljica (molecular biologist and physiologist, PhD in Immunobiology), is a member of Group for Medical Entomology. His main research focus is on molecular mechanisms underlying tick-pathogen-host interactions, particularly on antigenic and functional characteristics of tick salivary proteins. Beside basic research, he works on development of new diagnostic and screening assays, as well as identification of potential candidates for vaccination studies aimed to stop tick feeding and transmission of pathogens they vector. He is also interested in search for novel therapeutics and formulations derived from tick biomolecules, that can be applied in treatment of various disorders of immune system and hemostasis, but also other diseases (such as cancer, infections), and in surgery (new tissue glues).

Email:darko.mihaljica@imi.bg.ac.rs

Research associate

Gorana Veinović

Gorana Veinović is MSc Pharm, PhD in Group for Medical Entomology. She completed the experimental part of her thesis in Slovenia (Laboratory for the diagnosis of borreliosis and leptospirosis, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana) as an Erasmus Mundus scholarship holder. Her research is focused on: microbiology (bacteriology and parasitology), tick-borne pathogens and diseases, pathogen-host interactions, isolation and cultivation of Borrelia from different biological material, antimicrobial agents and antibiogram, examination of influence of various products and agents on bacteria in vitro, molecular identification and characterization of tick-borne pathogens. She is interested in studying mechanisms of Borrelia resistance to complement, testing the antimicrobial effect of various natural products (plant products, ticks…), to formulate preparations regarding global growth of antimicrobial resistance. She is interested in study of different antimicrobial agents to formulate universal topical preparation against dissemination of various tick-borne pathogens, preventing later complications of tick-borne diseases and excessive oral antibiotic use.

Email:gorana.veinovic@imi.bg.ac.rs

Research associate

Ratko Sukara

Ratko Sukara, PhD, DVM, scientific field: veterinary medicine (epizootiology). The focus of Dr. Ratko Sukara’s scientific research is on enzootic transmission cycles of vector-borne pathogens. This research includes the study of the role of ticks as vectors and reservoirs for various pathogens, as well as the study of the role of different hosts (primarily wild and domesticated canids) in the spread and maintenance of vector-borne pathogens. The above research also provides the basis for the development of preventive measures to protect animal and human health from vector-borne diseases, with a focus on zoonotic diseases.

Email:ratko.sukara@imi.bg.ac.rs

Research associate

Valentina Cirkovic

Dr Valentina Cirkovic obtained her PhD in 2018, entitled “Phylogenetic analysis of hantaviral molecular evolution in different rodent species”. Up to now, she has been involved in both, national and iternational projects granted by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technical Development of the Republic of Serbia and Science Found Republic of Serbia. Additionally, within two-year bilateral Project with the People’s Republic of China, she had international engagement at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of Zoonoses in Beijing, China. During her years of research experience, she acquired knowledge in the field of molecular epidemiology and phylogenetic analyses of different pathogens. As a member of group for Medical Entomology she is involved in the analysis of molecular evolution of tick-borne pathogens. Since the beginning of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, she was actively involved in molecular diagnostic of COVID19 at the NRL „Torlak“.

Email:valentina.cirkovic@imi.bg.ac.rs

Latest PROJECTS

All projects of this group

Latest RESEARCH PAPERS

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