Dr Sumaira Hasnain

Dr Sumaira Hasnain is Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Career Track Fellow at the Mater Research Institute - University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Her novel discoveries have therapeutic relevance for the treatment of multiple common inflammatory diseases including Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Diabetes.Sumaira Hasnain’s research career started in 2006 with her PhD in infection/immunology and glycobiology, which was pivotal in defining the function of the secretory-cell barrier in infection for which she received the Distinguished Achievement Award Medal for the top postgraduate at the University of Manchester, UK.  She made an important observation that secretory-cells collapsed in particular immune environment resembling Endoplasmic Reticulum stress. This was similar to work reported by Professor Michael McGuckin’s group at Mater, which prompted her move to Brisbane in 2011. This work has improved the understanding of a balanced immune response and provided new potential approaches for the treatment of a substantial number of important inflammatory and infectious diseases.Dr Hasnain is chief investigator on three NHMRC, Cancer Council Queensland grant, UQ Collaboration and Industry Engagement Fund (CIEF) Seed Research Grant and recently gained the UQ postdoctoral fellowship. She has published her work in top-tier journals, including a recent landmark study published in Nature medicine. Since 2010, she has won 12 awards including a Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research from Mater Research (2012) and the prestigious 2013 QLD Premier’s Postdoctoral Research Award.