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Masuma ZawariAssistant Research Fellow

BBiomedSc(Hons), PhD (Otago)

Email masuma.zawari@otago.ac.nz
Tel +64 3 244 1128

Research interests

Dr Masuma Zawari's research spans infectious diseases, clinical microbiology, nutrition in health and redox biology. She has worked across multidisciplinary research teams, collaborating with clinicians and laboratory scientists to address questions relevant to human health and disease.

Her current research focuses on improving the diagnosis of infectious diseases, particularly Legionnaire's disease. Her aim is to develop non-invasive diagnostic approaches for the detection of Legionella infections using molecular and liquid biopsy technologies, with the goal of enhancing early diagnosis and patient outcomes. Masuma is interested in advancing diagnostic microbiology and translating innovative laboratory methods into practical clinical applications.

Prior to joining The Infection Group, Masuma conducted research within the Nutrition in Medicine and Mātai Hāora - Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine research groups. Her work involved investigating vitamin C status in chronic disease and infection, oxidative stress biomarkers, mitochondrial function, and redox regulation in human health and disease. She has experience in assessing oxidative stress through analysis of the redox status of peroxiredoxin proteins in cancer cell lines and human blood cells from the longitudinal Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study, providing insights into cellular redox regulation and disease processes. She has also contributed to clinical studies investigating nutritional interventions, metabolic health, and inflammatory responses. Masuma is also a member of the Australasian Society for Infectious Diseases (ASID).

Publications

Shahid, A., Chambers, S., Scott-Thomas, A., Zawari, M., & Bhatia, M. (2026). Anti-inflammatory effects of alpha-lipoic acid modulate cystathionine-γ-lyase expression in RAW 264.7 macrophages. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 27(2), 949. doi: 10.3390/ijms27020949 Journal - Research Article

Scott-Thomas, A., Zawari, M., Anderson, T., Chernysheva, E., Chambers, S. T., Maze, M., & Storer, M. (2025). Development of a urine-based bacterial cell-free DNA test for Legionnaires' disease. Proceedings of the Infectious Diseases & Pandemic Preparedness Summit. (pp. 61-62). Retrieved from https://www.teniwha.com Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Scott-Thomas, A., Chernysheva, E., Zawari, M., Miller, A., Chambers, S., Maze, M., Storer, M., & Kennedy, M. (2025). Detection of Legionella cell-free DNA in blood for the non-invasive diagnosis of Legionnaires' disease. Proceedings of the Infectious Diseases & Pandemic Preparedness Summit. (pp. 62). Retrieved from https://www.teniwha.com Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Scott-Thomas, A., Zawari, M., Chernysheva, E., Wolf, K., Anderson, T., Miller, A., Maze, M., Storer, M., Kennedy, M., Douglas, N., Faatoese, A., & Chambers, S. (2025). Microbial cell-free DNA: A non-invasive approach to diagnosing infectious diseases. Proceedings of the Infectious Diseases & Pandemic Preparedness Summit. (pp. 49). Retrieved from https://www.teniwha.com Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Scott-Thomas, A., Zawari, M., Henry-Albert, S., Wolfe, K., Chernysheva, E., & Chambers, S. T. (2024, September). Developing a non-invasive diagnostic test for Legionnaires’ disease using cell-free DNA in urine. Verbal presentation at the Queenstown Research Week (QRW) Pathogen Genomics Meeting, Queenstown, New Zealand. Conference Contribution - Verbal presentation and other Conference outputs

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