Stopping Vector-Borne Pathogens at the Point of Contact.
Founded and rooted in Windham, Maine, TJH Innovations LLC is a research initiative engineering a wearable bio-acoustic sensor architecture designed to detect tick perimeter transit before mechanical attachment occurs.
Maine’s Frontline Tick Crisis
Maine represents ground zero for the expanding deer tick epidemic, where 1 in 3 dogs test positive for Anaplasmosis and 1 in 8 test positive for Lyme disease. Decades of living in this environment have made one reality undeniable: existing countermeasures fail to prevent tick entry and transmission.
Post-Attachment Latency
Oral isoxazolines and topicals require biological uptake through blood feeding. Pathogens like Borrelia burgdorferi (Lyme) and Anaplasma transfer during early salivary exchange, meaning chemical neutralization occurs after the host has already been exposed.
Nymphal Invisibility
Manual tactile checks regularly miss nymphal-stage ticks, which are smaller than a sesame seed. In dense animal fur and undercoats, unengorged vectors remain entirely undetectable to handlers until feeding is well underway.
Cross-Vectoring into Homes
Companion animals act as domestic vectors, carrying live, unattached ticks out of the woods and directly into family living spaces, beds, and vehicles—placing families at constant secondary risk.
While the Northeast represents ground zero, this vulnerability extends to a national market of over 65 million dog-owning households, demanding a scalable, pre-attachment detection solution.
Pre-Attachment Bio-AcouDetection
Rather than waiting for chemical ingestion or relying on fallible visual inspections, our research tests the ability to capture distinct micro-mechanical signatures created by arachnid movement at the skin boundary.
Neck & Torso Transit Capture
Sensors couple to the hair-skin interface to isolate surface-level mechanical friction as the vector travels toward the head.
High-Amplitude Filtration
Ambient physical artifact noise (scratching, panting, and full-body movement) is subtracted from the baseline.
Gait Classification
Edge algorithms target the specific low-amplitude, low-frequency signature of arachnid movement across the sensor zone.
Pre-Bite Telemetry
Localized notification is sent to the handler prior to mechanical attachment or engorgement.
The Sensing Architecture Concept
TJH Innovations is engineering a wearable bio-acoustic sensor architecture designed to detect the mechanical vibrations of crawling ticks before attachment and pathogen transmission can occur. By utilizing perimeter contact sensing and motion filtering to eliminate everyday pet activity artifacts, our approach aims to close the critical defense gap left by reactive treatments.
Intellectual Property & Patent Status
TJH Innovations LLC maintains 100% ownership of its foundational intellectual property. Key innovations—spanning specialized housing geometries, contact biosensing configurations, and signal classification methods—are subject to active U.S. Patent Pending protection.
Detailed technical specifications, benchtop parameters, and patent documentation are available to verified research and institutional partners under reciprocal non-disclosure agreements.
Operator-Led Applied Research
TJH Innovations was founded in Windham, Maine to address the unchecked vector-borne disease crisis threatening families and domestic animals.
Tracy is a lifelong Maine resident, avid outdoor enthusiast, and the visionary founder of the TJH bio-acoustic detection system. After pulling 15 live ticks off her own dog despite strict adherence to monthly oral preventative treatments, she realized that waiting for a tick to bite is an unacceptable gap in protection for families and domestic animals.
With a 25-year track record as an independent Maine business owner, Tracy now directs TJH Innovations full-time, overseeing commercialization strategy, operational governance, and external research administration. Her focus remains on grounding complex technological development in real-world field conditions, ensuring that practical, ergonomic insights translate into a scalable protective solution.
Developing non-invasive biological interfaces in complex acoustic environments requires strict multidisciplinary discipline. TJH Innovations structures its applied research through formalized technical partnerships.
Our laboratory validation roadmap is designed around strategic collaborations with specialized university engineering departments and contract engineering firms. This infrastructure ensures that benchtop signal validation, transducer calibration, and edge-algorithm development are executed with uncompromising academic rigor and scalable commercial intent.
Research Roadmap
TJH Innovations LLC is advancing through structured technical milestones aligned with institutional research and commercialization standards.
Concept Validation & IP Protection
Formulated foundational bio-acoustic hypothesis and secured priority date via U.S. provisional patent application.
Pre-Clinical Signal Calibration
Structuring laboratory benchtop validation across diverse coat densities to calibrate baseline sensor sensitivity and motion-filtering thresholds.
Prototype Miniaturization & Field Evaluation
Transitioning calibrated benchtop architectures into wearable field prototypes for controlled veterinary observation.
Institutional & Research Inquiries
TJH Innovations welcomes communications from academic laboratories, veterinary networks, and institutional partners regarding pre-clinical technical validation and our Non-Confidential Project Abstract.
info@tjhinnovations.com