Rate My Professor Clare Anstead

Associate Professor Clare Anstead serves as an expert in parasitology within the Melbourne Veterinary School at the University of Melbourne's Faculty of Science. A Canadian researcher originally from Saskatchewan, she obtained her BSc and PhD in Biology from the University of Saskatchewan. Her doctoral thesis, completed in 2013, examined ticks and tick-borne bacteria associated with small mammals in Western Canada, leading to discoveries of novel Rickettsia and Rickettsiella species in ixodid ticks. Anstead joined the University of Melbourne in January 2014 as a postdoctoral research fellow in the Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, advancing through roles including senior lecturer to her current position as Associate Professor in Parasitology in the Gasser Parasite Genetics and Genomics laboratory.

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.