With a constantly shrinking pot of available financial resources for research, researchers are looking to other options...
"One of those younger researchers is Heather Kopsco, a Montclair State University graduate student who is looking for $8,000 through Microryza to help her answer a simple question: Can birds carry Lyme disease? While there is some evidence from the lab showing that birds are capable of transmitting the bacteria that causes the disease, Borrelia burgdorferi, to uninfected ticks, little is known about whether birds in the wild are actually harboring the infection."
http://www.ibtimes.com/crowdfunding-science-kickstarter-imitators-fund-innovation-research-budgets-slashed-across-academia