Researcher Profile

I am head of the Emerging Infections  & Parasitology Laboratory of icddr,b in Dhaka, Bangladesh, have over 25 years of research experience in the field of enteric infections, and have managed longitudinal cohort studies in Bangladesh in collaboration with the University of Virginia.  Early in my career, I had focused on pathogenesis and diagnosis of amebiasis and recently I have expanded my research on other enteric infections as well as malnutrition and underperformance of vaccines. I am undertaking projects on diagnostics and epidemiology of these   enteric infections as well as undertaking projects to understand the biological mechanisms of underperformance of vaccines and vaccine trial.  My areas of expertise include enteric infection pathogenesis, diagnostics and molecular assay development, and management of field studies. I am working on other parasitic diseases such as Cryptosporidiosis, Giardiasis, Malaria, Dengue and Leishmaniasis. For the last 25 years I have been working in the field of enteric infections in collaboration with the University of Virginia and TechLab Inc. Blacksburg, Virginia.  Our work together has led to the development of molecular diagnostics of enteric protozoan parasites

Present Involvement in Research Projects at the icddr, b:

i)     Morbidity burden of Cryptosporidiosis and other entro- pathogens in Bangladesh. 

ii)    Validation of rapid diagnostic tests for some enteric protozoan parasites.

iii)   Drug trial for treatment of enteric protozoan parasites.

iv)   Epidemiology and treatment   of Leishmaniasis and Post-Kala-Azar Dermal leishmaniasis

v)    Biologic Basis for Underperformance of Oral Polio and Rotavirus Vaccines  in Bangladesh  and Dengue  vaccine trial

vi)   Enteric Infections and Malnutrition and the Consequences for Child health   and Environmental Enteric Dysfunction.

Society Membership:

1.   Member, American Society of Microbiology.

2.   Member, American society of Tropical medicine & Hygiene

3.   Life Member, The Bangladesh Society for Parasitology.

4.   Life Member, Korean Society of Parasitology.

5.   Member, Alumni Association, LSHTM, London, UK.

6.   Life Member, Bangladesh Medical Association.

Other professional activities:

1.  Member, National Malaria Technical Committee of Bangladesh

2.  Member, WHO Global Burden of Foodborne Disease Burden Epidemiology Reference Group.

3.  Member of Vaccine monitoring committee of icddr,b

4.  Member, Research Review Committee of icddr,b

Editorial Activities:

1.    Reviewer of  ASM journals

2.    Reviewer of Bangladesh Medical Research Council’s Bulletin

3.    Reviewer of Postgraduate Medical Journal

4.    Reviewer of Lancet

5.    Reviewer of Journal of Health, Population and Nutrition

Award:

1.      International Research Scholar Award of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute through its Infectious Disease and Parasitology Program over the five-year term of September 1, 2000 to August 31, 2005.

2.      Travel Grant Award of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in 1995.

3.      Thrasher Research Grant award

4.      NIH  Research grant award

5.      Gold Medal from the Sofia Medical Academy, Bulgaria in 1983 for excellent academic performance.

Selected publications include:

• Haque R,  Roy S, Siddique A, Mondal U, Rahman SM, Mondal D, Houpt E, Petri WA Jr.  Multiplex real-time PCR assay for detection of Entamoeba histolytica, Giardia intestinalis, and Cryptospordium spp., Am J Trop Med Hyg 2007; 76(4): 713- 717.
• Roy  S,  Kabir M,  Mondal  D, Ali IKM,  Petri WA Jr,  Haque R.  Real-time PCR assay for the diagnosis of  Entamoeba  histolytica Infection.  J Clin Microbiol 2005; 43: 21618-2172.
• Haque R, Mondal D, Duggal P, Kabir M, Roy S, Farr BM, Sack RB, Petri WA Jr. Entamoeba histolytica infection in children and protection from subsequent amebiasis. Journal of Infectious Dis 2006;74: 904-909.
• Haque R, Kabir M, Noor Z, Rahman SM, Mondal D, Alam F, Rahman I, Al Mahmood A, Ahmed N, Petri WA Jr. Diagnosis of Amebic Liver Abscess and Amebic Colitis by Detection of Entamoeba histolytica DNA in Blood, Urine and Saliva by a Real-time PCR assay.  J Clin Microbiol 2010; 48(8): 2798-2801.
• Haque R, Mondal D, Shu J, Roy S,  Kabir M,  Davis AN, Duggal P, Petri WA Jr.  Correlation of interferon-gamma production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells with childhood malnutrition and susceptibility to amebiasis.   Am  J Trop Med Hyg  2007; 76(2): 340- 344.
• Alam F, Salam MA, Hassan P, Mahmood I, Kabir M, Haque R. Amebic liver abscess in northern region of Bangladesh: sociodemographic determinants and clinical outcomes. BMC Res Notes. 2014 10;7:625
• Subramanian S, Huq S, Yatsunenko T, Haque R, Mahfuz M, Alam MA, Benezra A, DeStefano J, Meier MF, Muegge BD, Barratt MJ, VanArendonk LG, Zhang Q, Province MA, Petri WA Jr, Ahmed T, Gordon JI. Persistent gut microbiota immaturity in malnourished Bangladeshi children. Nature. 2014  19;510(7505):417-21.
• Haque R, Snider C, Liu Y, Ma JZ, Liu L, Nayak U, Mychaleckyj JC, Korpe P, Mondal D, Kabir M, Alam M, Pallansch M, Oberste MS, Weldon W, Kirkpatrick BD, Petri WA Jr. Oral polio vaccine response in breast fed infants with malnutrition and diarrhea. Vaccine. 2014  16;32(4):478-82.
• Petri WA Jr, Naylor C, Haque R. Environmental enteropathy and malnutrition: do we know enough to intervene?  BMC Med.  2014  14;12:187.
• Donowitz JR, Haque R, Kirkpatrick BD, Alam M, Lu M, Kabir M, Kakon SH, Islam BZ, Afreen S, Musa A, Khan SS, Colgate ER, Carmolli MP, Ma JZ, Petri WA Jr. Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth and Environmental Enteropathy in Bangladeshi Children.  MBio. 2016  12;7(1). pii: e02102-15.