2020 Online Salon
Borrelia burgdorferi and Molecular Adaption

Project Details
- Entrant Name: Benjamin Colvin
- Membership Type: Student Submission
- Other Contributors: Benjamin Colvin
- Address: Chicago, Illinois USA
- Client: None
- Copyright: 2020 Benjamin Colvin
- Medium/software used: Visual Molecular Dynamics (1.9.3), Autodesk 3DS Max (2019), Adobe Photoshop (2020), and Adobe Illustrator (2020)
- Final presentation format: Intended to be used as a printed informational poster 20inchx24inch.
- Primary Audience: The audience of this project is for individuals with or obtaining a science degree, and wishing to learn about the molecular mechanism of Borrelia burgdorferi infection. For example, this audience includes undergraduate/postgraduate students, medical stud
Project Description
The objective of this project is to create an informational poster which communicates the adaptations of Borrelia burgdorferi that enable the bacterium to infect humans and cause Lyme disease. A series of adaptations have enabled Borrelia burgdorferi to cause Lyme disease. Endoflagella of burgdorferi are responsible for generating their unique spirochete shape and movement, which is functionally essential for the Borrelia to migrate from their vector, the Ixodes genus of ticks, to their hosts. To avoid the host immune system burgdorferi changes its coat to Outer surface protein C (OspC) during infection.