Scabies is a disease of the skin caused by the “itch mite” Sarcoptes scabiei. This project is aimed at working out how scabies mites are becoming increasingly tolerant to the most common drugs used to treat the disease. We are investigating the scabies mite genes and proteins which are involved and how they help the mite to develop drug resistance.

We aim to understand the molecular mechanisms involved in the development of drug resistance in the scabies mite. We also aim to develop molecular tests for drug resistance which will enable the assessment of treatment failures and assist in the development of more sensitive methods for monitoring resistance in the community, including the potential for reversing it.