The Univeristy of Melbourne The Royal Melbourne Hopspital

A joint venture between The University of Melbourne and The Royal Melbourne Hospital

Associate Professor Ashraful Haque

Associate Professor Ashraful Haque

(03) 9035 5206 | ashraful.haque@unimelb.edu.au

Position:
Lab Head
Theme(s):
Malaria, Immunology, Bacterial and Parasitic Infections
Discipline(s):
Discovery Research, Computational Science and Genomics
Unit(s):
The University of Melbourne, Department of Microbiology and Immunology (DMI)
Lab Group(s):
Haque Group

Associate Professor Ashraful Haque is a lab head and a lead for the Bacterial and Parasitic Infections theme at the Doherty Institute. He completed a PhD on Salmonella pathogenesis in 2002, with Gordon Dougan at Imperial College, London.  After a post-doctoral fellowship on immune responses to the bacterium, Burkholderia pseudomallei, at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, he moved to Australia in 2005 to work on parasitic infections at QIMR in Brisbane, with Christian Engwerda.  He received his first NHMRC grant in 2010, and started a research group at QIMR Berghofer in 2012.  With NHMRC Project and Ideas Grants, and ARC Discovery funding, he has studied host/parasite interactions in blood-stage malaria, with a specific interest in single-cell genomics. 

  • Key Achievements
    • During his PhD, Ash examined one of the first bacterial genomes ever to be sequenced, that of Salmonella Typhi, the causative agent of typhoid fever. Ash then defined immune responses during infection with the dangerous bacterial pathogen, Burkholderia pseudomallei, which causes a lethal disease, melioidosis, in humans, against which there is currently no vaccine. Ash was one of the first to define mechanisms of immune-suppression during malaria. He was awarded the ASMR QLD Senior Researcher Award in 2012, and the Australasian Society of Immunology’s Jacques Miller Award in 2017. More recently, Ash has pioneered the application of single-cell genomics for studying T-cell immunology.

    Publications
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    Projects
    • How do CD4+ T cells preserve memories during malaria?

      The Haque Group are funded by the Australian NHMRC to discover new molecular mechanisms that govern the transition from effector to memory states in antigen-specific CD4+ T cells. We focus on experimental blood-stage malaria, with the ultimate goal of developing new strategies that boost naturally-acquired immunological memory and vaccine-mediated immunity to this disease. Currently, we apply single-cell transcriptomics and epigenomics technologies, computational modelling, and experimental target validation in vivo to reconstruct the dynamic process of cellular change within CD4+ T cells.

    • CD4+ T cells in acute Graft-versus-Host Disease

      The Haque group are examining how donor-derived CD4+ T cells after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, differentiate into pro-inflammatory, regulatory and quiescent cell states in the gastro-intestinal tract, thus controlling the severity of Graft-versus-Host Disease. In experimental in vivo models, we find rapid emergence of TCF1hi quiescent T cells that migrate to the gut, and retain a capacity to mount secondary effector responses therein. To translate these findings into humans, we are applying scRNA-seq to examine peripheral blood immune responses in Phase III clinical trials for prevention of acute GVHD. 

    • Do malaria parasites sense and respond to the host during infection?

      The Haque Group are interested not only in how the host immune response develops during blood-stage malaria, but also how the parasite itself responds to being within the host.  We previously found evidence of host-mediated impairment of parasite maturation in experimental in vivo models.  Currently, we are testing the hypothesis that parasites sense inhibitory factors released into the bloodstream by the the host, and respond by altering their transcriptional programs, which leads to slowed population growth of parasites within red blood cells.

    Research Groups
    • Haque Group

      The Haque Group use a combination of experimental models, single-cell genomics, and computational biology, to study host/pathogen interactions and immune responses during infectious disease and cancer treatment. Our goal is to develop new strategies for preventing these diseases in humans. 


      Lab Team

      Haque Group

      • Dr. Marcela Moreira
        Postdoctoral Researcher
      • Dr. Hyun Jae (Josh) Lee
        Research Officer
      • Dr. Michael Bramhall
      • Lianne Lansink
        PhD student
      • Cameron Williams
        PhD student