Development of Leishmania donovani stably expressing DsRed for flow cytometry-based drug screening using chalcone thiazolyl-hydrazone as a new antileishmanial target

•Leishmania donovani expressing DsRed were generated using vector template DsRed-Express-N1.•Stable transfectants showed enhanced expression of DsRed and high infectivity to J774.1 macrophages.•Transfectants were used in flow cytometry-based antileishmanial drug screening.•Drug screening using standard antileishmanials and a new chemical series of chalcone thiazolyl-hydrazone hybrids.