Rebecca Molena

Biography

Biography

My interest in parasitology stemmed from my undergraduate honours research in which I investigated the efficacy of diagnostic methods for strongyle infections in a cohort of sport horses. I graduated in 2016 and continued my research via an MPhil at the University of Cambridge, identifying early indicators of anthelmintic resistance in specific cyathostomin species, collected from a thoroughbred stud farm.

Following my graduation in 2018, I wanted to bridge the gap between veterinary and human research. I joined the Complement Immunology lab headed by Sir Prof. Peter Lachmann FRS as research assistant. The aim of the tenure was to design a sandwich ELISA for the diagnosis and progression of IgA nephropathy, funded by the biopharmaceutical company, Omeros.

In 2019 I started a role in medical communications at Springer Nature, whilst returning to academia in 2021, starting a part-time PhD focusing on drug screening on a range of kinetoplastids, at the Centre for Applied Entomology and Parasitology at Keele with particular focus of Trypanosoma evansi and equiperdum, predominantly affecting working animals in areas in which they depend on livestock for their livelihood.

In 2022, I began the role of Teaching Fellow in Bioscience, contributing to the parasitology teaching on the biomedical science and human biology degree routes.

Research and scholarship

Research and scholarship

I am interested in veterinary parasitology, particularly early drug discovery and the development of anthelmintic resistance.

Visit Rebecca Molena's Research Gate profile.

Publications

Publications

Molena, R.A., Peachey, L.E., Di Cesare, A., Traversa, D. and Cantacessi, C., 2018. Cyathostomine egg reappearance period following ivermectin treatment in a cohort of UK Thoroughbreds. Parasites & Vectors, 11(1), p.61.

Peachey, L.E., Molena, R.A., Jenkins, T.P., Di Cesare, A., Traversa, D., Hodgkinson, J.E. and Cantacessi, C., 2018. The relationships between faecal egg counts and gut microbial composition in UK Thoroughbreds infected by cyathostomins. International journal for parasitology, 48(6), pp.403-412.

Peachey, L. E., Castro, C., Molena, R. A., Jenkins, T. P., Griffin, J. L., & Cantacessi, C., 2019. Dysbiosis associated with acute helminth infections in herbivorous youngstock–observations and implications. Scientific reports, 9 (2019), 11121.