Rate My Professor Clare Anstead

Anstead's research focuses on veterinary parasitology, arthropod genomics, and the biology of parasitic flies, particularly Lucilia cuprina, the primary agent of flystrike in sheep. She led the international effort to sequence the L. cuprina genome, detailed in the 2015 Nature Communications paper 'Lucilia cuprina genome unlocks parasitic fly biology to underpin future interventions,' which has garnered over 100 citations. Additional key publications include 'A blow to the fly—Lucilia cuprina draft genome and transcriptome to support advances in biology and biotechnology' (Biotechnology Advances, 2016), contributions to 'Gene content evolution in the arthropods' (Genome Biology, 2020), and 'Parasitology education before and after the COVID-19 pandemic' (Trends in Parasitology, 2021). Her work extends to mitochondrial genomics of Australian blowfly populations and innate immune responses in sheep to blowfly larvae. In 2024, she secured a $776,462 Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant to pioneer novel anti-blowfly therapeutics, targeting a disease inflicting $320 million in annual losses on Australian sheep producers while enhancing animal welfare and trade security. With over 700 citations, Anstead's contributions advance genomic tools for parasite control and agricultural sustainability.