Ashley Bono ’09 is trying to take the bite out of tick-borne diseases. She is a dual microbiology and biochemistry major from Medway, MA. Ashley is also an Honors Student in the UMass Amherst Commonwealth College.

Ashley Bono fell in love with bacteria in a sophomore introductory microbiology course. As a senior, she put her fascination to work on a capstone project funded by a Commonwealth College Honors Research Grant. She studied the causes of Lyme disease and other tick-borne bacterial illnesses.

Working with Plant, Soil & Insect Sciences Department Head, Professor Stephen Rich, in his Fernald Hall entomology lab, Bono analyzed the gene sequences of the bacteria associated with deer ticks and studied how the bacteria affect the tick life cycle.

“Bacteria are everywhere and they’re amazing,” Bono says. “Whenever we think they can’t live somewhere or do something, it turns out they can. Some of them can even eat metal!”

As a Commonwealth College scholar, she didn’t have to wait for graduate school to conduct high-level research. She received a $1,000 research grant for lab equipment and supplies from the honors college.  “I have a whole lot of gene sequencing to do and it can get expensive,” she says.

Commonwealth College, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has long promoted student research. Original research in the form of a capstone project is a graduation requirement. Bono was one of 37 students who received Honors Research Grants in the 2008-09 academic year. She is presenting her project with an oral defense in the spring at the Commonwealth College-sponsored statewide conference on undergraduate research.

Bono’s project may help scientists figure out how Lyme (one ofthe fastest-growing infectious diseases in the United States) and other tick-borne illnesses are spread. “If we’re lucky,” she says, “we’ll find something that will help us better understand the means of Lyme disease transmission.”

Ashley Bono is on track to graduate summa cum laude. She begins a PhD program in fall 2009 and plans to become a researcher.

University Relations
April 27, 2009