Associate Professor Vern Bowles is based at the Melbourne Veterinary School in the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne, where he holds the position of Associate Professor in Production Animal Health and Management. He earned a Bachelor of Agricultural Science and a PhD. Earlier in his career, he served as Deputy Director of the Centre for Animal Biotechnology and Principal Research Fellow in the School of Veterinary Science. In 2001, while affiliated with the University of Melbourne, he established Hatchtech Pty Ltd with seed funding from Uniseed and continues as its Chief Scientific Officer. Dr Bowles has devoted a significant proportion of his research career to studying the role of ectoparasite proteases in parasite infections. His research interests center on parasite proteases as targets for chemotherapy and parasite vaccines, encompassing both endoparasites and ectoparasites, with a main focus on novel treatments for controlling head lice in children.

Bowles' key research contributions include identifying metalloprotease enzymes in head louse egg shells and developing abametapir as an inhibitor, leading to Xeglyze, a single-application topical lotion approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2020 for treating head lice infestations by killing both adults and unhatched eggs. His work extends to blowfly strike by Lucilia cuprina, investigating excretory-secretory products for wound initiation, innate immune responses in breech strike-resistant sheep, and flystrike vaccine development. Additional efforts address scabies treatments combining abametapir and flavesone. Notable publications comprise 'In vitro assessment of a combination therapy of abametapir and flavesone as a novel topical single-dose scabies treatment' (2026), 'A Randomized, Double-blind, Vehicle-controlled Study of the Ovicidal Efficacy of a New Head Lice Therapy, Abametapir Lotion, 0.74%' (2021), 'Effect of a New Head Lice Treatment, Abametapir Lotion, 0.74%, on Louse Eggs: A Randomized, Double-Blind Study' (2016), 'Characterization of ES products involved in wound initiation by Lucilia cuprina larvae' (1995), and 'Characterising the innate immune response in breech strike resistant and non-selected sheep to the sheep blowfly (Lucilia cuprina)' (2023). He has featured in expert podcasts on ectoparasites.

Professional Email: v.bowles@vet.unimelb.edu.au