Staff

Research Staff

A/Prof David Emery

Dr Jan Slapeta

Honorary Members

Dr David Jenkins
Dr Michelle Cotton
Dr Gareth Hutchinson

Research Support

Denise Wigney
Denise McDowell
Patricia Martin

Students

Table of student details

A/Prof David Emery

Associate Professor

Qualifications

1973 BSc(Vet) (Hons)
1974 BVSc (Hons 1)
1978 PhD

Career History

1978 – 1981 ILRAD, Kenya
1981 – 1984 CSIRO Animal Health
1985 – 1986 ILRAD, Kenya
1984 – 2001 CSIRO Animal Health and Production
2001 – 2002 Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Animal Biosecurity
2002 – present The University of Sydney

Research Interests

In summary:
Immunoparasitology, in particular ruminant immunology related to infectious diseases
Parasitology and vaccination

In detail:
David graduated from Sydney and has devoted 25 years to ruminant mucosal immunity, disease pathogenesis and vaccination for exotic and endemic infectious diseases and gastrointestinal nematodes, with several periods in Africa. He defined cell-mediated cytotoxicity for protective immunity against Theileria parva (East Coast fever), determed protective epitopes on Dichelobacter nodosus pili (ovine footrot) and characterised leucocidins of Fusobacterium necrophorum (foot abscess). He led the first project team developing recombinant vaccines for worm parasites of sheep, produced and trialled several protective antigens and identified allergic (Th2) responses as the protective mechanism in natural infections. David also has experience with biosecurity, import/export quarantine, animal health policy formulation, negotiation and operations. At Biosecurity Australia, David developed import risk analyses for importation of wool and fibres as well as zoo Bovidae and was responsible for trade negotiations for market access of live ruminants exported from Australia to northern Asia.

David’s current research interests are mucosal immunobiology of infectious and parasitic disease. He was appointed in 2004 to lead the “Host Resistance to Internal Parasites” subprogram in the Sheep Genomics Program (SGP), funded by Meat & Livestock Australia and Australian Wool Innovations. In this consultancy role, he coordinates research projects involving discovery and characterisation of genes responsible for worm resistance in sheep, develops research initiatives, reports and interfaces directly with senior staff in rural industry research and producer bodies.

Dr Jan Slapeta

Lecturer

Qualifications

MVDr.
Ph.D.

Career History

Research Interests

Protozoology
Microbial Evolution & Systematics
Diagnostic Applications

Jan has his own lab web pages which can be accessed at http://elearn.vetsci.usyd.edu.au/slapetalab/node/1 to find out more about his work.

Jan has also created and maintains his own website called iCRYPTO which attempts to combine the old and new data regarding the systematics and taxonomy of intracellular parasites of the genus Cryptosporidium (Apicomplexa). This will enable anyone working on the genus to do so without fear of duplication and with a full understanding of the known sequencing and naming of that organism both now and in the past so that there is no confusion with old and new literature. This page can be found at http://www.vetsci.usyd.edu.au/staff/JanSlapeta/.

Students

Postgraduate Opportunities

There are some exciting opportunities for postgraduate research in the following parasitology projects:

• Nematode virulence proteomics as worm resistance markers in sheep
  Supervisor: A/Prof David Emery
• Bioinformatics approach to Cryptosporidium identity: database prospects
  Supervisor: Dr Jan Slapeta
• Emerging parasitic disease: epidemiological, diagnostic and experimental approach
  Supervisor: Dr Jan Slapeta