The end-user provided virus (e.g. as a tick homogenate) will be used to experimentally infect castor bean tick nymphs (Ixodes ricinus). The nymphs will be infected by micro-capillary inoculation into the coxal plate of the second pair of legs (transcoxal infection) using a digital microinjector system. First, 100 nymphs will be used for evaluation of the virus replication dynamics. Based on the obtained results, tick-derived virus stock will be generated from an additional 100 nymphs and provided to the end-user.
