This third volume in the successful 'Drug Discovery in Infectious Diseases' series is the first to deal with drug discovery in helminthic infections in human and animals. The result is a broad overview of different drug target evaluation methods, including specific examples of successful drug development against helminthes, and with a whole section devoted to vaccine development. With its well-balanced mix of high-profile contributors from academia and industry, this handbook and reference will appeal to a wide audience, including parasitologists, pharmaceutical industry, epidemiologists, and veterinary scientists.

Foreword (Peter Hotez)PrefaceTARGETSLigand gated Ion channels as targets for anthelmintic drugs: past, current and future perspectives (Kristin Lees, Ann Sluder, Niroda Shannan, Lance Hammerland and David Sattelle)How relevant is caenorhabditis elegans as a model for the analysis of parasitic nematode biology? (Lindy Holden-Dye and Robert J Walker)Integrating and mining helminth genomes to discover and prioritize novel therapeutic targets (Dhanasekaran Shanmugam, Stuart A Ralph, Santiago J Carmona,Gregory J Crowther, David S Roos and Fernán Agüero)Recent progress in transcriptomics of key gastrointestinal nematodes of animals: fundamental research toward new intervention strategies (Cinzia Cantacessi, Bronwyn E. Campbell, Aaron R. Jex, Ross S. Hall, Neil D. Young, Matthew J. Nolan, Robin B. Gasser)Harnessing genomic technologies to explore the molecular biology of liver flukes - major implications for fundamental and applied research (Neil D. Young, Aaron R. Jex, Cinzia Cantacessi, Bronwyn E. Campbell and Robin B. Gasser)RNA Interference: A potential discovery tool for therapeutic targets of parasitic nematodes (Collette Britton)RNA Interference as a tool for drug discovery in parasitic flatworms(Akram A. Da'dara and Patrick J. Skelly)SCREENMechanism-based screening strategies for anthelmintic discovery (Timothy G. Geary)Identification and profiling of nematicidal compounds in veterinary parasitology (Andreas Rohwer, Jürgen Lutz , Christophe Chassaing, M. Uphoff, AR Heckeroth, Paul Selzer)Quantitative high-content screening-based drug discovery against helmintic diseases (Rahul Singh)Use of rodent models in the discovery of novel anthelmintics (Rebecca Fankhauser, Linsey R. Cozzie, Bakela Nare, Kerrie Powell, Ann E. Sluder and Lance G. Hammerland)To kill a mocking worm: Strategies to improve Caenorhabditis elegans as a model system for use in anthelmintic discovery (Andrew R. Burns and Peter J. Roy)DRUGSAnthelmintic drugs: Tools and shortcuts for the long road from discovery to product (Eugenio L. de Hostos and Tue Nguyen)Antinematodal drugs, modes of action and resistance: And worms will not come to thee (Shakespeare: Cymbeline: IV, ii)(Alan P. Robertson, Samuel K. Buxton, Sreekanth Puttachary, Sally M. Williamson, Adrian J. Wolstenholme, Cedric Neveu, Jacques Cabaret, Claude L. Charvet and Richard J. Martin)Drugs and targets to perturb the symbiosis of Wolbachia and filarial nematodes (Mark J Taylor, Louise Ford, Achim Hoerauf, Ken Pfarr, Jeremy M Foster, Sanjay Kumar and Barton E Slatko)Promise of Bacillus thuringiensis crystal proteins as anthelmintics (Yan Hu and Raffi V. Aroian)Monepantel: From discovery to mode of action (Ronald Kaminsky and Lucien Rufener)The discovery, mode of action and commercialization of Derquantel (Debra J. Woods, Steven J. Maeder, Alan P. Robertson, Richard J. Martin, Timothy G. Geary, David P. Thompson, Sandra S. Johnson and George A. Conder)Praziquantel: Too good to be replaced? (Livia Pica-Mattoccia and Donato Cioli)Drug discovery for trematodiases: Challenges and progress (Conor R. Caffrey, Jürg Utzinger and Jennifer Keiser)VACCINESBarefoot thru' the Valley of Darkness: Preclinical development of a human hookworm vaccine (Jeffrey M Bethony, Maria Victoria Periago and Amar Jariwala)Vaccines linked to chemotherapy: A new approach to control helminth infections (Sara Lustigman, James H. McKerrow and Maria Elena Bottazzi)Antifilarial vaccine development: Present and future approaches (Sara Lustigman, David Abraham and Thomas R. Klei)Proteases as vaccines against gastrointestinal nematode parasites of sheep and cattle (David Knox)Schistosomiasis vaccines: New approaches to antigen discovery and promising new candidates (Alex Loukas, Soraya Gaze, Mark Pearson, Denise Doolan, Philip Felgner, David Diemert, Donald P. McManus, Patrick Driguez and Jeffrey Bethony)Sm14 Schistosoma mansoni fatty acid-binding protein: Molecular basis for an antihelminth vaccine (Miriam