Skip to the content
 

David Piedrafita – SRF and Group Leader - Parasite Immunobiology

Email: david.piedrafita@med.monash.edu.au
Phone: 9905 2593

Dr David Piedrafita embarked on a PhD in immunoparasitology within the Department of Primary Industries in Victoria, after winning a competitive National Industry Scholarship. In 1996, he was awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship and worked on DNA vaccines at Glasgow University in Scotland for 3 years. David returned to Australia in 1999 to study Helminth vaccines and biology and in 2001 set up his own group working on Fasciola (liver fluke). In 2006, he relocated his group to the Biotechnology Research Laboratories at Monash University, where he continues to work on national and international research programs (including Thailand, Indonesia, Africa & Spain) and heads the Parasitology unit. He routinely hosts scientists & graduate students from overseas countries and supervises several PhD students. He is actively involved in promoting parasitology to the general public through educational activities and has been vice president and president of the Australian Society for Parasitology (2005-2007). He is deputy chair for the 2010 International Congress for Parasitology to be held in Melbourne (ICOPAXII).

Research interests

For a selection of student research projects with Dr Piedrafita please click here

Selected Publications

  • Kemp JM, Robinson NA, Meeusen EN, Piedrafita DM. (2009). The relationship between the rapid rejection of Haemonchus contortus larvae with cells and mediators in abomasal tissues in immune sheep. International Journal for Parasitology (in press).

  • Estuningsih, E., Spithill T.W., Raadsma, H.W., Law, R., Adiwinata, G., Meeusen, E. and Piedrafita, D. (2009). Development and application of a faecal antigen diagnostic sandwich ELISA for estimating prevalence of Fasciola gigantica in cattle in central Java, Indonesia. Journal of Parasitology (in press).

  • Beckham SA, Piedrafita D, Phillips CI, Samarawickrema N, Law RH, Smooker PM, Quinsey NS, Irving JA, Greenwood D, Verhelst SH, Bogyo M, Turk B, Coetzer TH, Wijeyewickrema LC, Spithill TW, Pike RN. (2009). A major cathepsin B protease from the liver fluke Fasciola hepatica has atypical active site features and a potential role in the digestive tract of newly excysted juvenile parasites. International Journal for Biochemical Cell Biology, 41(7):1601-12.

  • Smith RE, Spithill TW, Pike RN, Meeusen EN, Piedrafita D. (2008). Fasciola hepatica and Fasciola gigantica: cloning and characterisation of 70 kDa heat-shock proteins reveals variation in HSP70 gene expression between parasite species recovered from sheep. Exp. Parasitol. 118, 536-542.

  •  Jorge F. González, Álvaro Hernández, José M. Molina, Antonio Fernández, Herman Raadsma, Els N.T. Meeusen and Piedrafita, D. (2008). Comparative experimental Haemonchus contortus infection of two sheep breeds native to the Canary Islands. Veterinary Parasitology 153, 374-378.

  • Jayaraj, R., Piedrafita, D., Dynon, K., Grams, R., Spithill, T.W. and Smooker, P.M. (2008). Vaccination against fasciolosis by a multivalent vaccine of stage-specific antigens. Veterinary Parasitology 160, 230-236.

  • Raadsma H. W, Kingsford N., Suharyanta, Spithill T.W and Piedrafita, D. (2008). Host responses during experimental infection with Fasciola gigantica and Fasciola hepatica in Merino sheep: II Development of a predictive index for Fasciola gigantica worm burdens Veterinary Parasitology 154, 250-261.

    • Jorge F. González, Álvaro Hernández, José M. Molina, Antonio Fernández, Herman Raadsma, Els N.T. Meeusen and Piedrafita, D. (2008). Comparative experimental Haemonchus contortus infection of two sheep breeds native to the Canary Islands. Veterinary Parasitology 153, 374-378.

For full publication list: search for ‘Piedrafita D’ in PubMed