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You can get started by \textbf{double clicking} this text block and begin editing. You can also click the \textbf{Insert} button below to add new block elements. Or you can \textbf{drag and drop an image} right onto this text. Happy writing!    \textbf{Abstract}  Interactions between \emph{Francisella tularensis} and arthropod vectors are critical to the infectious cycle of this important zoonosis. We used the tropical \emph{Blaptica dubia} cockroach to study virulence of \emph{Francisella tularensis} LVS (live vaccine strain). \emph{B. dubia} is a practical surrogate host because: the immune system is structurally and functionally similar to the innate immune system of mammals, they are easy to rear, allow for safer injections with plastic pipette tips, and they allow for long term studies because they are more robust than current insect models. Here, we inoculated roaches with a panel of \emph{F. tularensis} LVS deletion mutants to observe survival. The majority of mutants studied resulted in an increase in roach survival. We found that the greater killing rate of LVS was proportional to an increase in the number of cells inoculated. The results demonstrate that \emph{B. dubia} roaches are an appealing alternative to mammalian and other insect models for the high throughput screening of large scale studies. In addition, this model can be applied to drug therapy studies and other advanced experiments.