Wolfville, N.S.-based Acadia University researchers have created an all-natural and long-lasting fabric spray tick repellent. The work was conducted under the supervision of Nicoletta Faraone, recently appointed to head up the new Canadian Tick Research and Innovation Centre. The work has earned Faraone a national Mitacs Innovation Award — Outstanding Innovation. 

Faraone, an associate professor in the chemistry department at Acadia University, strives to understand the tick smell and taste systems, including how ticks behave at a molecular level.

“Mitacs really opened up possibilities for research that I didn’t know were possible,” said Faraone, who is pursuing her research in Canada after completing undergraduate, Master’s and PhD degrees in Italy.

“As researchers, we need that strong belief in what we are doing in order to answer important questions,” she said in a press release.

Part of the problem, she said, is that ticks have not been studied enough. It’s only during the last decade that the medical community has tied Lyme disease to tick bites, and researchers are just starting to understand how differently ticks behave compared to mosquitoes.

Because ticks are nearly blind, they depend on smell to find hosts to feed on. The Acadia researchers discovered that when ticks are exposed to certain essential oils their ability to smell is impaired, preventing them from finding hosts.

That discovery led to the development of an essential oil-based spray repellent, created in partnership with Nova Scotia-based AtlanTick Repellent Products and expected to be on the market by next summer. The all-natural fabric spray repels ticks for up to one week and alleviates health concerns associated with synthetic or chemical products that can lead to user hesitancy. 

Faraone’s team is also studying the effect of climate change on tick populations, including how warmer winters could be strengthening ticks’ ability to fight off repellents, making them less effective. Another project is examining the potential of using a fungus native to Nova Scotia as an all-natural insecticide, given its ability to kill ticks.