Research Summary:
Simon has three main areas of research interest:
- Epidemiology and control of Trypanosoma evansi infection (the cause of the disease known as surra) in livestock in SE Asia. This also involves techniques for surveillance of T. evansi in PNG and Australia where it is exotic but threatens to spread from Indonesia. Techniques include the study of chronic pathology, development of serological and PCR-based diagnostic techniques, epidemiological studies in Indonesia and the Philippines.
- Study of the epidemiology of rodent-associated zoonoses in the South Pacific. This research includes experimental studies of the pathogenicity of Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection in ruminants. Trichinella papuae infection in pigs and the study of the epidemiology of leptospirosis in selected counties in the South Pacific.
- Drug development for animal trypanosomiasis. Development of new candidate drugs for the treatment of trypanosome infections from compounds that bind to parasite tubulin. This work involves expression purification and visualization of trypanosome tubulin and binding-studies to optimise candidate compounds.
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Dr Simon Reid BSc, BVMS, PhD, MACVSc (Epidemiology)