Rate My Professor Alan Hsu

Dr. Alan Hsu is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy (Immunology and Microbiology), Faculty of Health and Medicine at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He holds a PhD in Medicine from the University of Newcastle. His career includes postdoctoral research at the Faculty of Health and Medicine, School of Medicine and Public Health, University of Newcastle from January 2011 to June 2016, and short-term postdoctoral training with Professor Takashi Fujita at Kyoto University, Institute for Virus Research, Japan in early 2011. Since March 2022, he serves as Associate Editor for Frontiers in Allergy. Dr. Hsu's research focuses on respiratory viruses and human innate immunity, particularly the molecular mechanisms of viral diseases in health and people with chronic airways diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. His work emphasizes virus-host interactions, innate immune mechanisms restricting viral entry and replication, and factors modulating inflammation and immunopathology.

Dr. Hsu's team has uncovered key insights, including the activation of a viral RNA sensor by influenza facilitating antiviral responses, delayed antiviral responses to human seasonal coronaviruses in bronchial epithelial cells, and influenza viral proteins disrupting antiviral networks through a novel 'interferon revving-up model,' leading to enhanced replication. They identified a microRNA upregulated in influenza contributing to exaggerated inflammation, with its specific inhibitor reducing viral replication and disease severity in normal and experimental COPD models. Current efforts target viral protein functions and host dependencies for novel therapeutics resistant to mutations and effective against multiple respiratory viruses, including influenza and coronaviruses, supporting pandemic preparedness. Awards include the Ann Woolcock Young Investigator Award (2012), TSANZ/AstraZeneca Respiratory Research Fellowship (2016), Frontiers Spotlight Award Finalist (2019), and multiple travel fellowships from FIMSA and others. Key publications encompass 'Iron metabolism determines the outcome of influenza A virus infection' (2023), 'Histone deacetylase-6 (HDAC6) promotes protective responses during murine influenza A virus (IAV) infection' (2022), 'Impaired Antiviral Stress Granule and IFN-β Enhanceosome Formation Enhances Susceptibility to Influenza Infection in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Epithelium' (2016), and 'Targeting PI3K-p110α Suppresses Influenza Virus Infection in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease' (2015).