Grounded in Current Biology, 2023

Ticks ride your static charge. We ground it out.

Ticks can't jump. Bristol researchers showed they get pulled across the air onto you by the static electricity your body carries. Nullifield is a battery-free band that bleeds that charge to ground — so you become a smaller electrostatic target.

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Research-stage venture · efficacy not yet proven · a prevention layer, not a replacement for tick checks

The discovery

A tick doesn't reach you. Your charge reaches the tick.

England, Lihou & Robert (Current Biology 33:14, 2023) put Ixodes ricinus nymphs under a charged electrode and raised the voltage until the ticks were lifted across the air gap. It's the first known case of static electricity attaching one animal to another — and it points to a countermeasure the authors named themselves: reduce the charge, reduce the attraction.

258 kV/m

Field strength that begins pulling a tick nymph across an air gap.

30 kV

Surface voltage a body can carry — enough to attract across centimeters.

752 pC

Average net charge measured on triboelectrically charged host feet.

0×

Distance a tick can jump. Every reach beyond its legs is electrostatic.

How Nullifield works

Two states of the same body.

The mechanism is passive. No battery, no emitted field, nothing that touches the tick. A conductive path simply keeps you nearer to ground potential — the same physics as an anti-static wrist strap, aimed at a biological target.

Unprotected · charged

You build charge as you move.

Walking through grass and brush triboelectrically charges your body to thousands of volts. That standing field extends past your skin and can lift a waiting tick onto you across a gap.

Nullifield · grounded

The band bleeds it off.

A high-resistance conductive band continuously dissipates accumulated charge, holding you closer to neutral. A weaker field means a shorter electrostatic reach — fewer ticks pulled the last few centimeters onto you.

Go-to-market

Prove it on dogs. Scale it to people.

Pets are the wedge: a larger, faster, lighter-regulated market where charge and infestation are easy to measure on a real host. The data that sells collars is the same data that earns the right to make human claims.

Wedge · launch first

Nullifield for dogs

An anti-static collar band for the dog that runs through tall grass so you don't have to test on yourself first.

Owners already buy tick collars monthly — proven willingness to pay
Efficacy is measurable: charge on coat, ticks recovered per outing
Device claims for pets clear a lower regulatory bar than human repellents
Every sale funds the field data the human product needs

Expansion · earned

Nullifield for people

The anklet — for hikers, trail runners, field workers, and the Lyme community that has waited a long time for something new.

Highly motivated buyers underserved by 40-year-old chemistry
Positioned as a layer beside permethrin and tick checks, never instead
The mechanism is the marketing — a tick pulled across a gap is unforgettable
Launches on real efficacy data carried over from the pet program

Where we stand

What we can say — and what we won't.

Unproven "pest repeller" wearables get sued. Our defensibility is radical honesty: we sell the science and the mission, and we let a real study decide the efficacy claim.

Grounded & true today

Peer-reviewed science shows ticks are attracted by host static charge
The study's own authors propose anti-static measures as a countermeasure
Passive charge dissipation is established, safe, battery-free physics
We are running the wearable efficacy study that doesn't exist yet

Not claimed until proven

No "repels ticks" claim without controlled efficacy data
No promise of protection — this reduces one attraction pathway
Not a replacement for repellent, permethrin, or daily tick checks
No medical or Lyme-prevention claim of any kind, ever, without trials

Funding roadmap

Buy proof before scale.

The sequence is deliberate: non-dilutive grants and a university study fund the efficacy data, which de-risks everything after it. We file IP before we say a word in public.

Now · 0–3 mo

Provisional patent + lab partner

File a provisional on the charge-neutralizing wearable. Line up an entomology lab to test dissipation on a live host.

$2–8K

3–12 mo

SBIR / non-dilutive grants

NIH/NIAID and USDA SBIR fund vector-borne-disease prevention. The grant pays for the study you legally need and stamps your credibility.

$150–500K

9–15 mo

Pet pilot + crowdfunding

Ship the dog band to early backers framed as "fund the research, get an early unit." Real customers, real field data.

$50–250K

15 mo+

Pre-seed on a data point

With a provisional patent and a first efficacy result, raise an angel/pre-seed round to scale manufacturing and open the human line.

$500K–1.5M

Get involved

Three ways to move this forward.

We're funding a study, not selling protection. Join the list, back the research, or come build it with us.

Waitlist · free

Be first to know

Study results and launch news, occasionally. No charge, no spam, unsubscribe anytime.

Donate · fund the study

Back the research

Your contribution funds the efficacy study — the data that decides whether this works. A gift to the research, not a purchase of protection.

Contribute →

Secure checkout via Stripe. A donation to fund research — no product, protection, or delivery is promised, and it is not tax-deductible unless nonprofit status applies.

Invest · partner

Build it with us

Angels, SBIR reviewers, entomology labs, manufacturers — request the deck or start a conversation.

Crowdfunding launches after the pet pilot. It goes live once we have preliminary data — join the waitlist and we'll email you the day the campaign opens.

Kickstarter · soon Indiegogo · soon

Join the build

A 2023 discovery. A prevention layer nobody has built yet.

We're looking for a lab partner, a first grant, and the people who want tick season to change. If that's you, get in.

Get involved Back the research