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Contact Details

Phone
+64 3 470 3420
Email
matloob.husain@otago.ac.nz

University Links

Position
Associate Professor and Co-Director (Biomedical Sciences Teaching Programme), Faculty of Biomedical Sciences
Department
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Qualifications
MSc, PhD
Research summary
Molecular virology, viral pathogenesis and epidemiology

Research

Matloob Husain is an Associate Professor in Virology.

Influenza virus remains one of the most circulated viruses and flu remains one of the most common infectious diseases in humans, globally. This burden of influenza virus on global public health may even get worse with the co-circulation and co-infection of pandemic SARS-CoV-2. The identification of factors which govern influenza virus multiplication and determine flu severity in humans is critical to develop effective and tailored antiviral strategies. We have discovered that acetylation, an epigenetic protein modification, plays a critical role in influenza virus infection and may determine the severity of flu in humans. Current research is focused on elucidating the role of acetylation machinery in influenza virus infection. We use human lung epithelial cells as the infection model of type A influenza virus. We manipulate the expression of genes which control acetylation by tools like RNA Interference and CRISPR/Cas9 and then analyse the effect on influenza virus replication and pathogenesis and host innate immune response by RNA Sequencing, mass spectrometry, plaque assay, qRT-PCR, and western blotting.

Publications

Husain, M. (2026). Influenza A virus H5N1: Resurgent interspecies and intercontinental transmission, and a new host. Pathogens, 15, 6. doi: 10.3390/pathogens15010006 Journal - Research Other

Husain, M. (2025). Influenza A virus non-structural 1 protein: A key viral weapon against host pathways. Discovery Medicine, 37(201), 2119-2134. doi: 10.24976/Discov.Med.202537201.181 Journal - Research Other

Husain, M. (2025). Acetylation in Viral Infection and Disease. In M. Halasa & A. Wawruszak (Eds.), Histone and non-histone reversible acetylation in development, aging and disease. (pp. 329-361). Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-91459-1_12 Chapter in Book - Research

Leong, J., & Husain, M. (2025). HDAC1 and HDAC2 are involved in influenza A virus-induced nuclear translocation of ectopically expressed STAT3-GFP. Viruses, 17, 33. doi: 10.3390/v17010033 Journal - Research Article

An, W., Lakhina, S., Leong, J., Rawat, K., & Husain, M. (2024). Host innate antiviral response to influenza A virus infection: From viral sensing to antagonism and escape. Pathogens, 13, 561. doi: 10.3390/pathogens13070561 Journal - Research Other

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