Silvia Ciocchetta

I am a fully qualified Veterinarian in Italy, with a Masters in Animal Health, Animal Farming and Animal Productions and a PhD in Medical Entomology (QUT).

I have worked for more than 10 years supporting research and public health projects in Australia and internationally including developing countries, gaining wide field and laboratory experience in Medical Entomology, Vector-Borne Diseases Surveillance, Vector Biology and Control, Infectious Diseases, Zoonoses and Parasitology. My wide range of technical field and laboratory expertise includes biological and vector competence studies, virology assays and molecular biology, leading field monitoring in a variety of settings, researching novel diagnostic tools for human and animal infectious diseases, and investigating new animal models for human parasites under high biosecurity containment levels (BLS 3) and quarantine conditions. I have a total of eleven publications in peer-reviewed international journals and I have presented my research at 8 national conferences and 8 international conferences.

Prior to commencing my PhD program in Australia, I gained significant professional experience during a five years training at the Parasitology Laboratory of the Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie (Italian Health Authority and Research Organisation for Animal Health and Food Safety) where I underwent diagnostic training on diagnosis of parasitic diseases of domestic and wild animals (coprological examinations and blood smears), identification of endo and ectoparasites, and knowledge of the microbiological, immunological and biomolecular assays applied to veterinary clinical settings.

I recently worked on an innovative Schistosoma models, and on a multidisciplinary project that brings together academic research groups, government agencies and livestock industry partners from different Australian states, to understand Q fever prevalence and dynamics in macropods and livestock, at the UQ School of Veterinary Science. I am leading a study on the field monitoring of the dog heartworm vectors in Queensland at the same School.

I am a team member of the UQ Infectious disease diagnostics group at the School of Public Health (https://public-health.uq.edu.au/research/infectious-disease-diagnostics) where I am currently involved as co-investigator on an innovative Med Tech research: a light-based rapid detection method (NIRS) for the quantification of intestinal worm burden in humans, with Doctor Sikulu-Lord, and I am the Principal Investigator of a project on targeted surveillance of major zoonotic arboviral and other vector-borne diseases in Australia using the spectroscopy technology.