Preston, Sarah (Dr) - Research

Current research projects/students

  1. PhD candidate: Yaqing Jiao “Drug discovery for new anthelmintics” (University of Melbourne)
  2. PhD candidate: Dilrukshi Herath “Natural products as a potential source for new anthelmintics” (University of Melbourne)

Publications/conferences

  1. Kumarasingha R, Karpe AV, Preston S, Yeo TC, Lim DS, Tu CL, Luu J, Simpson KJ, Shaw JM, Gasser RB, Beale DJ, Morrison PD, Palombo EA, Boag PR. Metabolic profiling and in vitro assessment of anthelmintic fractions of Picria fel-terrae Lour. Int J Parasitol Drugs Drug Resist. 2016 Aug 26;6(3):171-178. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpddr.2016.08.002.
  2. Preston S., Jiao Y, Jabbar A., McGee S., Laleu B., Willis P., Well T.N, Gasser R.B 2016. Screening of the 'Pathogen Box' identifies an approved pesticide with major anthelmintic activity against the barber's pole worm. International Journal for Parasitology Drugs and Drug Resistance, doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpddr.2016.07.004
  3. Preston S, Luo J, Zhang Y, Jabbar A, Crawford S, Baell J, Hofmann A, Hu M, Zhou HB, Gasser RB. 2016. Selenophene and thiophene-core estrogen receptor ligands that inhibit motility and development of parasitic stages of Haemonchus contortus. Parasite Vectors. 16, 9(1):346. doi: 10.1186/s13071-016- 1612-
  4. Preston S, Jabbar A, Nowell C, Joachim A, Ruttkowski B, Cardno T, Hofmann A, Gasser RB. 2016. Practical and low cost whole-organism motility assay: A step-by-step protocol. Molecular and Cellular Probes, 30(1),13-17.
  5. Kumarasingha R, Preston S, Yeo T-C, Lim DSL, Tu C-L, Palombo EA, Shaw JM, Gasser RB, Boag PR, 2016. Anthelmintic activity of selected ethno-medicinal plant extracts on parasitic stages of Haemonchus contortus. Parasites & Vectors 9, 1-7. doi: 10.1186/s13071.
  6. Preston S, Beddoe T, Meeusen E & Piedrafita D, 2015. Galectin-11: A Novel Host Mediator Targeting Specific Stages of the Gastrointestinal Nematode Parasite, Haemonchus contortus. International Journal for Parasitology, vol 45(12):791-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2015.06.003.
  7. Amani P, Sneyd T, Preston S, Mason L, Bailey U, Baell J, Camp D, Gasser R, Taylor P, Hoffman A, 2015. A convenient Java tool for small-molecule compound appraisal. Journal of chemoinformatics, vol 7:28. doi: 10.1186/s13321-015-0079-1.
  8. Preston S, Jabbar A, Nowell C, Joachim A, Ruttkowski B, Baell J, Cardno T, Korhonen PK, Piedrafita D, Ansell BR, Jex AR, Hofmann A, Gasser RB. Low cost whole-organism screening of compounds for anthelmintic activity. International Journal for Parasitology, vol 45(5). doi: 10.1016/j.ijpara.2015.01.007.
  9. Preston S, Jabbar A, Gasser RB, 2015. A perspective on genomic-guided anthelmintic discovery and repurposing using Haemonchus contortus, Infection, Genetics and Evolution. p.S1567-1348(15)00261-0. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2015.06.029.
  10. Preston S, Dunphy J, Beddoe T, Meeusen E, Young A, 2015. 'Evaluation of the role of galectins in parasite immunity, Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1207:371-95. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4939-13

Research interests

I am interested in the areas of research relating to the control of diseases such as gastrointestinal nematodes in humans and livestock. Particularly, I am interested in the following areas;

  • Drug discovery and development for human and veterinary parasitic worms
  • Development of assays to screen for new anthelmintics and to diagnose anthelmintic resistant parasites
  • Understanding the molecular interaction between the host immune response and pathogens
  • Diagnostic development for the emergence of new and existing diseases

Professional memberships and associations

  1. Australian Society for Parasitology

Internal/external web links