Prof Jacqui Matthews discusses the importance of faecal worm egg counting, while equine parasitologist Kathryn Knock shows us a behind-the-scenes demonstration in her laboratory of the Moredun worm egg counting method.
Kathryn is an equine scientist who has been working as a parasitologist for over ten years. Kathryn is based in Newmarket and works on a freelance basis for a leading flat owner breeder.
Prof. Jacqui Matthews qualified as a veterinary surgeon before completing a PhD in parasitology at the University of Glasgow. She then worked in academia for over 25 years, leading a range of interdisciplinary projects focused on helminths of ruminants and horses.
During this time, she taught many undergraduates and postgraduates in the subject area, and was awarded more than £13 million in competitive funding for research, from which 140 peer-reviewed papers have been published. Her research has primarily focused on vaccine and diagnostic development to underpin sustainable parasite control. She has written numerous lay articles, given seminars and workshops to stakeholders promoting best practice control practices, and for many years, was technical advisor to the Control of Worms Sustainably in Cattle initiative and parasitology expert on the UK Veterinary Products Committee. She sits on several sub-groups of the CANTER initiative, set up to develop and promote best practice guidelines for parasite control in horses.
Jacqui was conferred fellowship of the Royal College of Veterinary surgeons for meritorious contributions to knowledge in 2017, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, the Royal Society of Edinburgh and is a RCVS recognised specialist in Veterinary Parasitology. One of her inventions, a diagnostic blood test for equine small redworm, was commercialised by Austin Davis Biologics in 2019 and, in 2022, she moved to this company as Director of Veterinary Science, where she leads the research and development programme and works closely with end-users in promoting evidence-based worm control in horses.
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