Prof Estelle Venter ~ Professor of Veterinary Education

Estelle Venter obtained a BSc degree with majors Microbiology and Biochemistry with distinction. She obtained her MSc degree in Microbiology (Virology, specifically on Rift Valley fever (RVF) virus.  She then commences lecturing on microbiology and assisting in a diagnostic virology laboratory. She completed her PhD entitled ‘The development of a group-specific diagnostic probe for the detection of the 24 serotypes for bluetongue virus (BTV)’ in 1993. She was promoted to Associate Professor in 1997 and Professor in 2013. She obtained a Y (young researcher) research rating at the South African Research Foundation in 1998, C2 (established researcher) in 2012 - 2017 and 2018 - 2023.

Research

Her main research focus is on arboviral diseases specifically lumpy skin disease (LSD), RVF and bluetongue (BT). Other research interests include orbiviruses e.g. AHSV and Palyamviruses and the Simbu and Flavi group of viruses. She has obtained research funds e.g. from THRIP for FMD, NRF for both BT and LSD, BBSRC/CIDLID and the EU (DEFEND) for LSD and TIA for BT. She had supervised/co-supervised a total of 52 postgraduate students that obtained their degrees. She has been an external examiner for 9 Masters and 2 PhD students and an internal examiner for 6 MSc and 2 PhD students. She has 99 published research articles, all in accredited journals and 4 chapters in books.  She has refereed 83 manuscripts, of which 40 the past five years, i.e. for journals including the Onderstepoort Journal of Veterinary Research, Theriogenology, Medical and Veterinary Entomology, Veterinary Microbiology, African Journal of Biotechnology,  BioMed Central (BMC) Veterinary Research, Comparative Immunology, Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, the Journal of the South African Veterinary Association, Vaccine, Epidemiology and Infection, PLoS Pathogens, Viruses and Transboundary and Emerging Diseases Journal. She was a referee for 16 Grant proposals of the Nation Research Foundation, South Africa, assisted in the rating process of 12 scientists and review proposals for promotion.

Collaboration with researchers nationally and internationally, the latter which Dr W Wilson, Wyoming USA (2000 – to date), (currently employed by Kansas University and collaborating on RVF and training of students) and Prof J MacLachlan from UC Davis, USA (2008 - 2010) on BTV. She was the co-promoter of a PhD student (LSDV) with promoter Prof Collenbrander from Utrecht University (2007) and has collaborated with Dr P Mellor (co-supervisor) from Pirbright, UK as supervisor of an MSc student (BTV Culicoides work) and a PhD student (2010). She was a co-promoter of four PhD students at international universities, Utrecht University (2, 2007, 2020), in Oslo, Norway in 2014 and Helsinki, Finland (2015).

She assists in the writing of several research grants; a Wellcome Trust Grant (in 2004) on AHSV with Dr J Wood from the UK, not successful, 2010 from the NRF/Belgium collaboration on the overwintering of Culicoides midges, not successful. She was the co-applicant of a successful research grant to CIDLID (DFID/BBSCR) on LSDV (2009) and collaborated with Dr E Tuppurainen, Dr C Ouro and Prof P Mellor from Pirbright, UK from 2010 to 2013 in this regard. In 2016, she has co-applied for a Horizon2020 grant with Dr Pip Beard from the UK, not successful (2016) but successful in 2017, and to the Morris Animal Foundation on flaviviruses in horses, not successful. In South Africa, she has obtained research funds from the University of Pretoria: 2 grants in 2013, 1 in 2014 and 1 in 2015. She also obtained research funds from the Technology Innovation Agency (2013-2017) for research on BT and collaborating with Dr P van Rijn, the Netherlands, in this regard. Drs M Madder, Jan van den Abbeele and D Geysen from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Belgium are collaborators in presenting online courses and research. She was invited to a Gates Foundation sponsored conference on the improvement of capripoxvirus vaccines (2015). She has acted as a technical expert for the IAEA visiting laboratories in Zimbabwe and Entebbe, Uganda and as a technical expert for SANAS in Zimbabwe and the University of Cape Town’s Vaccine Research Laboratory.

She moved to Australia in 2017 and currently working at James Cook University as Professor of Veterinary Education.

Teaching

• MI3021: Clinical Microbiology (Level 3; TSV)
• MI3051: Mechanisms of Infectious Diseases (Level 3; TSV)
• MI5021: Advanced Clinical Microbiology (Level 5; TSV)
• MI5051: Mechanisms of Infectious Diseases (Level 5; TSV)
• TV1101: Introductory Veterinary Science (Level 1; TSV)
• TV2002: Integrated Animal Structure and Function 2 (Level 2; TSV)
• TV3002: Transitions from Health to Disease 2 (Level 3; TSV)
• TV4001: Veterinary Clinical Sciences Part 1 of 2 (Level 4; TSV)
• TV4002: Veterinary Clinical Sciences Part 2 of 2 (Level 4; TSV)
• TV5120: Advanced Microbiology and Immunology (Level 5; TSV)
• TV5121: Infectious Diseases of Livestock (Level 5; TSV)
• TV5210: Animal Nutrition (Level 5; TSV)

Experience

• 2017 to present - Professor of Veterinary Education, James Cook University (Townsville)
• 2013 to 2017 - Professor, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria (South Africa)
• 1997 to 2012 - Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, UP, University of Pretoria (South Africa)
• 1988 to 1996 - Senior Lecturer, Department of Veterinary Tropical Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria (South Africa)
• 1985 to 1987 - Lecturer, Department of Infectious Diseases, Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria (South Africa)
• 1981 to 1985 - Medical Natural Scientist, Medical Microbiology, Section Virology, University of the Free State, Government (South Africa)

Research Disciplines

• Veterinary sciences (3009)

Socio-Economic Objectives

• Expanding knowledge (2801)

Awards

• 2012 to 2019 - Top 10 senior researcher of the year. Faculty of Veterinary Science, University of Pretoria

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Haegeman A, De Leeuw I, Mostin L, Campe W, Aerts L, Venter E, Tuppurainen E, Saegerman C and De Clercq K (2021) Comparative evaluation of lumpy skin disease virus-based live attenuated vaccines. Vaccines, 9 (5), Article: 473, DOI:10.3390/vaccines9050473.
• Odendaal L, Davis A and Venter E (2021) Insights into the pathogenesis of viral haemorrhagic fever based on virus tropism and tissue lesions of natural Rift Valley fever. Viruses, 13 (4), DOI:10.3390/v13040709.
• Stokstad M, Coetzee P, Myrmel M, Mutowembwa P, Venter E and Larsen S (2021) Refined experimental design may increase the value of murine models for estimation of bluetongue virus virulence. Laboratory Animals, 55 (1), pp. 53-64, DOI:10.1177/0023677220930056.
• Van den Bergh C, Venter E, Swanepoel R, Hanekom C and Thompson P (2020) Neutralizing antibodies against Rift Valley fever virus in wild antelope in far northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, indicate recent virus circulation. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 67 (3), pp. 1356-1363, DOI:10.1111/tbed.13479.
• van Schalkwyk A, Pravesh K, Ebersohn K, Mather A, Annandale C, Venter E and Wallace D (2020) Potential link of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to virulence of vaccine‐associated field strains of lumpy skin disease virus in South Africa. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 67 (6), pp. 2946-2960, DOI:10.1111/tbed.13670.
• Annandale C, Smuts M, Ebersohn K, Du Plessis L, Thompson P, Venter E and Stout T (2019) Effect of using frozen–thawed bovine semen contaminated with lumpy skin disease virus on in vitro embryo production. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases, 66 (4), pp. 1539-1547, DOI:10.1111/tbed.13179.
• Craig A, Packer G, Guthrie A and Venter E (2019) Evaluating African horse sickness virus in horses and field-caught Culicoides biting midges on the East Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa. Veterinaria Italiana, 55 (1), pp. 91-94, DOI:10.12834/VetIt.1160.6400.3.
• Ebersohn K, Coetzee P, Snyman L, Swanepoel R and Venter E (2019) Phylogenetic characterization of the Palyam serogroup orbiviruses. Viruses, 11 (5), Article: 446, DOI:10.3390/v11050446.
• Erster O, Rubinstein M, Menasherow S, Ivanova E, Venter E, Šekler M, Kolarevic M and Stram Y (2019) Importance of the lumpy skin disease virus (LSDV) LSDV126 gene in differential diagnosis and epidemiology and its possible involvement in attenuation. Archives of Virology, 164, pp. 2285-2295, DOI:10.1007/s00705-019-04327-5.
• Van den Bergh C, Venter E, Swanepoel R and Thompson P (2019) High seroconversion rate to Rift Valley fever virus in cattle and goats in far northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, in the absence of reported outbreaks. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 13 (5), Article: e0007296, DOI:10.1371/journal.pntd.0007296.
• Annandale C, Smuts M, Ebersohn K, Du Plessis L, Venter E and Stout T (2018) Effect of semen processing methods on lumpy skin disease virus status in cryopreserved bovine semen. Animal Reproduction Science, 195, pp. 24-29, DOI:10.1016/j.anireprosci.2018.04.080.
• Loots A, Mokgokong P, Mitchell E, Venter E, Kotze A and Dalton D (2018) Phylogenetic analysis of canine distemper virus in South African wildlife. PLoS ONE, 13 (7), Article: e0199993, DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0199993.

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 59+ research outputs authored by Prof Estelle Venter from 2011 onwards.

Advisory Accreditation: I can be on your Advisory Panel as a Primary or Secondary Advisor.

These Higher Degree Research projects are either current or by students who have completed their studies within the past 5 years at JCU. Linked titles show theses available within ResearchOnline@JCU.

Current

• Development of Redclaw Crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) intensive breeding techniques for Commercial Crayling Production with emphasis on Sperm Technologies (PhD , Advisor Mentor)
• Outcomes Assessments in Undergraduate Veterinary Science Education. (PhD , Advisor Mentor)

The map shows research collaborations by institution from the past 7 years.
Note: Map points are indicative of the countries or states that institutions are associated with.