Dr Mohammed Alsharifi

Dr Mohammed Alsharifi
 Position Senior Lecturer
 Org Unit Molecular and Biomedical Science
 Email mohammed.alsharifi@adelaide.edu.au
 Telephone 831 34632
 Location Floor/Room 5 ,  Molecular Life Sciences ,   North Terrace
  • Biography/ Background

    Dr Alsharifi studied Biomedical Science at Monash University. After graduating with First Class Honours, he moved to the Australian National University to take up a PhD scholarship at The John Curtin School of Medical Research. During his PhD, he investigated with Prof Arno Müllbacher, Prof Robert Blanden, and Dr Mario Lobigs the immunobiology of an alphavirus infection. During his early years in research he discovered a period of exhaustion in type-I interferon response following an acute viral infection, which may explain the clinically known observation that virus-infected patients are at increased risk to a more sever secondary viral and/or bacterial infection. Following the completion of his PhD studies, he investigated with Prof Müllbacher the possibility of using gamma-irradiated influenza virus as a universal flu vaccine. In 2008, he was awarded the Hanson Fellowship to continue his research into the universal Flu vaccine and also to investigate the possibility of producing other vaccines using similar technique to that used for influenza. His flu vaccine research has been featured in the Catalyst program on ABC (), and in many newspaper articles such as () and  ().

  • Research Interests

    Opportunities for post doctoral fellows and postgraduate students

     

    Concepts Related to the Development of Gamma-Irradiated Vaccines:

    Gamma irradiation has become a “gold standard” for inactivating highly dangerous pathogens such as the Ebola virus. However, despite our advance knowledge, more investigations are required for a much better understanding of the conditions and parameters required to achieve sterility of infectious materials in accordance with the international benchmark, the “Sterility Assurance Level”. This project is expected to systematically investigate the underlying parameters influencing the sterility of γ-irradiated preparations. It will allow us to quantify any structural damage induced by γ-irradiation in viruses and bacteria and also to classify viruses and bacteria based on their suitability as γ-irradiated vaccine candidates.

     

    Cross-Protective Influenza Vaccine:

    Protection against re-infection with homotypic influenza virus is mediated primarily by neutralizing antibodies but recovery from newly arisen influenza virus infections requires cytotoxic CD8+ T (Tc) cells. While neutralizing antibodies target mainly the viral surface glycoproteins (HA and NA), which are subject to frequent antigenic variation, influenza-immune Tc cells target the more conserved proteins, such as the viral nucleoprotein (NP) and matrix protein. Accordingly, any universal influenza vaccine should have the capability of inducing cross-protective Tc cell responses. We have developed cross-protective influenza A virus vaccine and we aim to investigate CTL responses in terms of activation, recruitments into the lung and long term tissue persistence.

      

    Exhaustion of IFN-I Response and the Susceptibility to Secondary Infections:

    We have previously reported that type I interferon (IFN-I) response mediates systemic, partial lymphocyte activation which is evident by elevated expression of CD69 and CD86. Interestingly, we have found a period of exhausted IFN-I responses as a result of primary viral infections, which was associated with enhanced susceptibility to a secondary infection with an unrelated virus. Our aim is to investigate the underlying factors responsible for the deficiency in IFN-I responses following acute viral infections, and to address some therapeutic approaches to alleviate the period of the enhanced susceptibility.

  • Publications

    23. Babb R, Chen A, Ogunniyi AD, Hirst TR, Kara EE, McColl SR, Alsharifi M, Paton JC. Clin Sci (Lond). 2016 Nov 24. pii: CS20160475. [Epub ahead of print]

     

    22. Stevens NE, Hatjopolous A, Fraser CK, Alsharifi M, Diener KR, Hayball JD. Sci Rep. 2016 Jul 6;6:29154. doi: 10.1038/srep29154. PMID: 27380890

     

    21. Babb R, Chen A, Hirst TR, Kara EE, McColl SR, Ogunniyi AD, Paton JC, Alsharifi M. Clin Sci (Lond). 2016 May;130(9):697-710. doi: 10.1042/CS20150699. PMID: 26831937

     

    20. Chan J, Babb R, David SC, McColl SR, Alsharifi M. Scand J Immunol. 2016 Mar;83(3):165-73. doi: 10.1111/sji.12410. PMID: 26715418

     

    19. Babb R, Chan J, Khairat JE, Furuya Y, Alsharifi M. Front Immunol. 2014 Jun 10;5:267. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2014.00267. PMID: 24959166

     

    18. Ebrahimi M, Aghagolzadeh P, Shamabadi N, Tahmasebi A, Alsharifi M, Adelson DL, Hemmatzadeh F, Ebrahimie E. PLoS One. 2014 May 8;9(5):e96984. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0096984. Erratum in: PLoS One. 2014;9(6):e99921. PMID: 24809455

     

    17. Stevens NE, Fraser CK, Alsharifi M, Brown MP, Diener KR, Hayball JD. PLoS One. 2013 Jul 23;8(7):e68895. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068895. PMID: 23894371

     

    16. Alsharifi M, Koskinen A, Wijesundara DK, Bettadapura J, Müllbacher A. PLoS One. 2013 Jun 28;8(6):e68458. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068458. PMID: 23840854

     

    15. Furuya Y, Chan J, Wan EC, Koskinen A, Diener KR, Hayball JD, Regner M, Müllbacher A, Alsharifi M. PLoS One. 2011;6(10):e25765. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0025765. PMID: 21998693

     

    14. Wijesundara DK, Kumar S, Alsharifi M, Müllbacher A, Regner M. Int Immunol. 2010 Sep;22(9):757-67. doi: 10.1093/intimm/dxq064. PMID: 20682547

     

    13. Furuya Y, Chan J, Regner M, Lobigs M, Koskinen A, Kok T, Manavis J, Li P, Müllbacher A, Alsharifi M. J Virol. 2010 May;84(9):4212-21. doi: 10.1128/JVI.02508-09. PMID: 20164231

     

    12. Furuya Y, Regner M, Lobigs M, Koskinen A, Müllbacher A, Alsharifi M. J Gen Virol. 2010 Jun;91(Pt 6):1450-60. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.018168-0. PMID: 20147516

     

    11. Alsharifi M, Müllbacher A. Immunol Cell Biol. 2010 Feb;88(2):103-4. doi: 10.1038/icb.2009.81. No abstract available. PMID: 19859081

     

    10. Alsharifi M, Furuya Y, Bowden TR, Lobigs M, Koskinen A, Regner M, Trinidad L, Boyle DB, Müllbacher A. PLoS One. 2009;4(4):e5336. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0005336. PMID: 19401775

     

    9. Lobigs M, Larena M, Alsharifi M, Lee E, Pavy M. J Virol. 2009 Mar;83(6):2436-45. doi: 10.1128/JVI.02273-08. PMID: 19109382

     

    8. Alsharifi M, Lobigs M, Bettadapura J, Koskinen A, Müllbacher A. J Gen Virol. 2008 Aug;89(Pt 8):1942-4. doi: 10.1099/vir.0.83626-0. PMID: 18632965

     

    7. Alsharifi M, Müllbacher A, Regner M. Immunol Cell Biol. 2008 Mar-Apr;86(3):239-45. doi: 10.1038/sj.icb.7100159. Review. PMID: 18180794

     

    6. Budd A, Alleva L, Alsharifi M, Koskinen A, Smythe V, Müllbacher A, Wood J, Clark I. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2007 Aug;51(8):2965-8. PMID: 17562808

     

    5. Alsharifi M, Regner M, Blanden R, Lobigs M, Lee E, Koskinen A, Müllbacher A. J Immunol. 2006 Sep 1;177(5):3235-41. PMID: 16920963

     

    4. Müllbacher A, Lobigs M, Alsharifi M, Regner M. Lancet Infect Dis. 2006 May;6(5):255-6. PMID: 16631540

     

    3. Alsharifi M, Lobigs M, Simon MM, Kersten A, Müller K, Koskinen A, Lee E, Müllbacher A. Eur J Immunol. 2006 Apr;36(4):887-96. PMID: 16541469

     

    2. Rosen DB, Bettadapura J, Alsharifi M, Mathew PA, Warren HS, Lanier LL. J Immunol. 2005 Dec 15;175(12):7796-9. PMID: 16339513

     

    1. Alsharifi M, Lobigs M, Regner M, Lee E, Koskinen A, Müllbacher A. J Immunol. 2005 Oct 1;175(7):4635-40. PMID: 16177109

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Entry last updated: Thursday, 12 Jan 2023

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