Structure of the Network
Management Committee
The Network is managed by a Management Committee, with advice from a distinguished Advisory Board.
The current Management Committee is:
This group brings a diversity of talents and experience to the Management Committee.
Smith, Loukas and Ryan represent the best of Australia’s young parasitology researchers. All three have published more than 50 papers, attracted significant levels of public and commercial research funding and made important contributions to our understanding of parasite biology.
McFadden and Thompson provide enormous experience, having published 117 and 246 scientific articles, respectively, in top parasitology, molecular biology, biochemical and general scientific journals.
McFadden has made major contributions to understanding the cell biology of the malaria parasite with a view to exploiting this knowledge in development of new types of parasiticidal compounds.
Thompson is a world leader in the field of molecular epidemiology of parasite zoonoses, has twice served as the President of the ASP and was the founder of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for the Molecular Epidemiology of Parasitic Infections.
Saliba is a Lecturer at the ANU School of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His main research interest is in the physiological and biochemical pathways in the red blood cell stage of the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, as a target for anti-malarial drugs. Saliba was the first to demonstrate that a previously described pathway in the malaria-infected red blood cell is essential for the delivery of a vital nutrient and that this pathway can act as a route for anti-malarial drugs into the parasite.
Advisory Board
The following people have agreed to serve on the Advisory Board for the Network:
- Professor Chris Bryant, AM (for achievement in parasitology and science communication); past Dean of Science at ANU and founder of the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science (CPAS).
- Dr John Horton; a recognised global expert on anthelminthics and drug development for tropical diseases, and highly respected consultant for the pharmaceutical industry and WHO.
- Professor Artur Scherf; is a CNRS Director of Research and a laboratory head at the Institut Pasteur in France; he directs the Biology of Host Parasite Interactions Unit and is Director of the laboratory for The Genetic and Molecular Bases for Eukaryotic Cell Interactions. He is also the Director of BioMalPar (Biology and Pathology of Malaria Parasite), a Network of Excellence supported by the European Commission.
- Dr Graham Mitchell, AO (for services to science, especially immunoparasitology); recognised as one of Australia's leading biological scientists and consultants.
Infrastructure
The combined infrastructure of the ARC Network for Parasitology participants is formidable.
The ARC Network for Parasitology has been formed by 60 research groups from 26 universities/research institutions, in every state and territory of Australia. Each of these research groups has extensive links into a number of companies and industries.
Additionally, the ARC Network for Parasitology is backed by the Australian Society for Parasitology, with its extensive links to the pharmaceutical industry, veterinarians, clinicians, politicians and a variety of community groups.
Through these collaborations the Network has access to all the facilities, technologies and specialist equipment necessary to conduct modern parasitological research, including:
- Microarrays
- Microscopy (including confocal, electron, digital imaging, laser capture and micromanipulation facilities)
- Global Positioning System (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) expertise
- Animal facilities
- Gene analysis equipment
- Proteomic analysis facilities
- Expression and fermentation facilities
- Structural biology technologies including crystallization, mass spectrometry, nuclear magnetic resonance
- The Australian Synchrotron
The Network will also finance development of a website, databases and bioinformatics software, as described above, to enhance Australia's parasitological research effort.
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