Braira Wahid

Dr. Braira Wahid is a microbiologist specializing in bacteriophage therapeutics, antimicrobial resistance, and viral epidemiology. She recently completed her PhD in Microbiology at Monash University, Australia, where she focused on developing phage therapies against multidrug-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae. Her research centred on phage discovery, development of methods to combat phage resistance, molecular approaches to understand phage resistance and killing mechanisms, applying proteomics to study phage–host interactions, advancing phage pharmacology, and evaluating efficacy in vivo using infection models.

With over eight years of research and teaching experience, Dr. Wahid has worked as a Technical Assistant and Teaching Associate at Monash University, Lecturer and Research Associate at the University of Management and Technology in Lahore, and Molecular Biologist at the Genome Centre for Molecular Diagnostics. She has authored more than 20 peer-reviewed publications in high-impact journals, including The Lancet Infectious Diseases, International Journal of Infectious Diseases, Journal of Medical Virology, Infection, Genetics and Evolution, and Future Microbiology, with an h-index over 15.

Currently a postdoctoral researcher at Flinders University, she is advancing phage-based strategies for antimicrobial resistance. Her long-term vision is to establish a clinical-translational phage pipeline, integrate synthetic biology and AI-guided engineering to expand host range, and build one of the largest clinical phage banks. She is also working on the development of PhageMesh, an innovative phage-coated surgical mesh designed to prevent hernia mesh infections and reduce surgical complications.