Research opportunities

• Mulesing: producers’ attitudes to practice change
• Tail length in sheep: adoption of best practices
• Adoption of pain relief for tail length and castration in sheep
• Beef calf mortality: prevalence

• Animal welfare: the effects of housing systems, husbandry and management, environmental enrichment, and handling on animal welfare; development and validation of animal welfare indices and assessment tools; development and application of animal welfare training programs for animal handlers and companion animal owners.
• Animal behaviour: the effects of housing systems, husbandry and management, environmental enrichment, and handling on animal behaviour.
• Human-animal interactions and the human-animal relationship in livestock, companion and zoo animals.

• Pathophysiology of laminitis in horses.
• Equine stem cell function.
• Pathophysiology of endotoxaemia in horses and mechanisms of leukocyte activation.
• Relationships between insulin resistance, diet and obesity in ponies and horses.
• Biotechnology (Therapeutics) - Antibody therapy for an important equine disease
• Causes of insulin dysregulation in ponies and horses
• Novel treatments for equine laminitis
• Biotechnology (Therapeutics) - Antibody therapy for an important equine disease

• Racehorse fatality study
• Risk factor analysis and post-mortem studies of racetrack fatalities

• Equine subchondral bone injury

• Jockey falls and injuries that are associated with racehorse injury

Professor Andrew Fisher

Dr John Webb Ware

• The Mackinnon Project is a recognised leader in sheep and beef consultancy both in Australia and internationally. Its functions include education, research and whole farm consultancy for the extensive livestock industries and consultancy services to agribusiness.
• Mackinnon Project consultants are actively involved in a range of research projects. This research always aims at solving practical problems encountered by grazing enterprises.

• Genomic approaches to control colibacillosis
• Role of uropathogenic virulence factors of Escherichia coli in the pathogenesis of canine pyometra

• Pathogenesis of infectious laryngotracheitis virus in poultry
• Influence of herpesvirus glycoprotein G on host immune responses

• Investigation of inclusion body hepatitis outbreaks in Australian meat breeder/broiler flocks and establishment of an avian adenovirus typing facility and service.
• Investigation of the prevalence of chlamydiosis in the Australian chicken meat industry.
• Transfer of diagnostic technologies from research laboratories to a core diagnostic facility for the benefit of the Australian poultry industry.

• Spatial epidemiology
• Infectious disease modelling
• Epidemiology of infectious, production limiting and behavioural disorders of livestock

• Antimicrobial Stewardship: Using a One Health Approach
• Novel, highly targeted, low environmental impact control of pest slugs and snails
• Ciliate protozoa for control of grain pest molluscs.
• The molecular epidemiology and public health significance of Salmonella in pigs and pork
• Antibiotic resistance in bacteria in livestock and companion animals
• Mycobacterial diseases (inc Johne's disease, Buruli Ulcer and Tuberculosis)
• Using GRAS organsims to product novel microbial products
• Food Safety projects for graduate coursework students

• Modelling and development of decision-support tools for early phases of outbreaks
• Diagnostic test evaluation using Bayesian latent class modelling
• One Health: Q fever epidemiology, Ross River virus forecasting, Zoonoses in reptiles, controlling foodborne disease at source

• Molecular detection characterisation of avian coronaviruses in farm and wild birds
• Developing a reverse genetics system for avian coronaviruses
• Transcriptional and pathological host responses to infection with avian coronaviruses in chickens

• Developing antimicrobial stewardship for equine veterinary clinics
• Evaluating big data to investigate antibiotic use in veterinary medicine
• Investigation of the enablers for improved antimicrobial use and decision support in veterinary practice
• Use of gaming to improve antimicrobial stewardship education

• Faecal microbiota of native marsupials
• Genome sequencing of bacterial and viral pathogens of animals
• Development of rapid molecular diagnostics for wildlife and/or livestock

• One Health - Operationalisation of One Health, including capacity building across health systems
• Preparedness and response of human and animal health clinicians to zoonoses and emerging diseases

• Determining the function of bacterial proteins and their role in pathogenesis
• Identifying bacterial proteins as targets for improving vaccines and diagnostic methods

• Viral-bacterial coinfection dynamics of respiratory pathogens in vitro and in vivo
• 2D and 3D culture systems
• Wildlife virology, microbiology and diagnostics
• Herpesvirus evolution

• Investigation of bacterial virulence factors role in their pathogenesis
• Investigation of host markers for infection and or vaccine protection through omics approach

• One Health and infectious diseases at the wildlife-domestic-animal-human interface
• Evidence-based practice in veterinary medicine
• Qualitative research for veterinary medicine and One Health

• Understanding immunology and genetics of resistance against the amphibian pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis

• Exploring the effects of disease on reproduction in declining frog species

• Amphibian comparative genomics and understanding the genetic basis of immunity to chytridiomycosis

• Ecotoxicology – impacts on wildlife
• Toxoplasmosis in wildlife
• Conservation medicine

• Microbiota of wildlife species
• Ecophysiology
• Reptile health and disease

• Assessment of two sheep breeds for their natural resistance to a parasitic nematode, Haemonchus contortus.
• Development of novel diagnostic methods for the detection and quantification of horse parasites
• Epidemiology of coccidiosis in Australian dairy goats
• Anthelmintic resistance in parasites of Australian Thoroughbred horses

• Development and application of genomic and bioinformatic methods to identify and explore crucial biological pathways in socio-economically important parasites
• Using genomic and bioinformatic technologies to understand parasite-host interactions and parasitic disease
• Development and use of molecular tools to detect and characterise waterborne, food-borne and other zoonotic pathogens
• Development of advanced molecular methods for the diagnosis of parasitic infections and diseases
• Identification of new anti-parasite drug targets using advanced -omic technologies
• Development of new drugs against parasites
• Characterisation and exploration of mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of parasites
• Population genetics to characterise parasitic worm biodiversity
• Epidemiological investigations of parasites of socioeconomic importance

• Mitogenomics of key pathogens – an international research co-operative

• Development of genomic tools to characterise conserved and novel parasite protein families
• Genome-guided population genetics of blood flukes (schistosomes) affecting humans

• Resolve the taxonomy of Australian freshwater snails and assess their ability to transmit parasites to Australian livestock (Find a PhD).
• Conduct field work and using cutting-edge tools to study phylogenetics, genomics and transcriptomic responses to parasitic infection.

Dr Elizabeth Dobson

• Bone disease in frogs
• Hatching failure in captive birds

• Understanding the pathogeneis of canine atopic dermatitis using organoid models
• Histopathologic evaluation of laboratory animal models of COVID and influenza viruses