Dr. Sarah Preston
Senior Lecturer, Veterinary Bioscience
Campus
Biography
Dr Sarah Preston is mid-career academic in animal health, specialising in areas of parasite control and resistance in livestock and companion animals. Her specific interests are investigating immune response in animals to parasitic worms for the development of breeding diagnostics and vaccines. Sarah is also interested in tracking anthelmintic resistance in livestock. She has over 30 peer-reviewed papers published in these areas. In 2025 she also co-founded the company SwabTec to aid in the commercialisation of her research outputs.
Sarah has a strong passion for science outreach and science teaching research. She is an active member of the Australian Society for Parasitology (ASP) and works closely with the local community and ASP to develop science activities for National Science Week each year. She also evaluates the use of novel technology in teaching environments such as virtual, augmented reality headsets and virtual farms to engage students and teach complex paradigms in animal health.
Available for
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Professional Comment
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More about Sarah
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Science with Honours, Monash University
- PhD in Parasitology and Immunology, Monash University
- Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Education, Federation University Australia
Areas of interest
- Parasitic worms (helminths) in livestock
- Host immune responses to parasites
- Breeding for parasite resistance
- Anthelmintic (drench) resistance
- Anthelmintic discovery and parasite control strategies
- Science education and outreach (parasitology)
- Wildlife disease and tracking
Grants
- 2025, Launch Vic, Agtech grant. ($50,000)
- 2025, Future Drought Fund Beanstalk Venture Studio. ($250,000)
- 2024, Tracking of birds of prey, WIRES. ($21,000)
- 2024, CSIRO on prime program. ($5,000)
- 2023, Rapid Diagnostic test for Barber Pole worm, Sheep and Goat compensation fund. ($97,680)
- 2022, Federation University Athena Swan return from maternity leave support. ($20,000)
- 2022, Point of Care Diagnostic, Sheep and Goat compensation fund. ($97,000)
- 2023, Australian Wool Education Trust, small initiative grant. ($7,000)
- 2020, Australian Society for Parasitology Education grant. ($10,000)
- 2022, Wildlife tracking/koala care, State grant, administered by DECCA. ($60,000)
- 2020, Federation University HITC seed grant. ($10,000)
- 2020, QLD Science week grant-hosting parasites online. ($10,000)
- 2019, Federation University external collaboration initiative. ($1,200)
- 2018, National Science week grant-hosting parasites in focus in Ballarat. ($68,000)
Awards
- 2020: Vice Chancellor Award for Teaching
- 2020: School of Science, Psychology and Sport community engagement award
- 2019: School of life and health science teaching award for development of virtual reality parasitology experience
- 2018: Graduate certificate in education (tertiary teaching)
- 2017: Faculty of Science and IT Income growth grant, Biomarker Thematic Group Funding
- 2017: Faculty of Science and IT Income growth grant
- 2016: Australian Society for Parasitology researcher exchange
- 2016: Travel scholarship for Anthelmintics Discovery to Resistance Symposium
- 2016: Keystone Symposia Future of Science Fund and National Institute of Allergy and infectious diseases scholarship
- 2015–2016: Faculty of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences Staff Travel Award
- 2010–2013: SheepCRC Industry Postgraduate scholarship
- 2011–2014: Australian Society for Parasitology Travel Grant
Current
- PhD student, Federation University, ‘Parasite galectins as immunomodulatory molecules’, supervisor.
- PhD student, Federation University, ‘Understanding the distribution of the blood feeding parasite Barber’s Pole in Victoria’, supervisor.
- PhD student, Federation University, ‘Understanding the mucosal response to parasitic worms in horses through saliva sampling’, supervisor.
- PhD student, Federation University, ‘Post-release outcomes of wildlife released from the Ballarat Wildlife Hospital’, supervisor.
Past
- PhD student, Federation University, ‘Understanding immunity to gastrointestinal worms in equines with Pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction (PPID)’, supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Melbourne, ‘High throughput drug screening to identify anthelmintic leads for drug discovery’, supervisor.
- PhD student, University of Melbourne, ‘Natural products as drug screening to identify anthelmintic leads for drug discovery’, supervisor.
- Animal health and diagnostics
- Animal management and biosecurity
- Ethical practices in animal management
Specialist roles
- Editor-in-Chief, International Journal for Parasitology: Drugs and drug resistance
Professional association memberships
- Australian Society for Parasitology
- Co-founder, SwabTec, https://swabtec.com/
- Co-host. Australian Society for Parasitology Podcast, What’s Eating You
Health Innovation and Transformation Centre
Centre for eResearch and Digital Innovation (CeRDI)
Future Regions Research Centre (FRRC)
- Publications
Strongyle egg shedding and egg reappearance periods in horses with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1016/j.vetpar.2024.110176
Adoption of immersive-virtual reality as an intrinsically motivating learning tool in parasitology
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.1007/s10055-024-01016-w
The Influence of Flock Variation, Sample Size, Flock Size and Mean Egg Count on the Accuracy and Precision of the Estimated Mean Egg Count
- Journals
- DOI reference: 10.3390/parasitologia4020012