Mohsan Saeed, PhD

Associate Professor, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine

Biography

My laboratory investigates the role that viral proteins, particularly viral proteases, play in remodeling host cells and creating a favorable environment for virus replication. To this end, we take a two-pronged approach: employ modern systems biology methods to get a global view of the virus-host interface and then use classical molecular biology and biochemistry techniques to gain deeper mechanistic insights.

The major focus of my laboratory is to identify and characterize host proteins that are cleaved by viral proteases. For this, we use a relatively unbiased approach to label and capture protein N-termini generated by proteolytic cleavage in virus-infected cells. This powerful proteomics (“degradomics”) approach not only identifies the cleaved proteins but also the site of cleavage within a protein. Once the proteins are identified and their cleavage is validated by orthogonal methods, we then ascertain the functional significance of these cleavages in the virus life cycle.

Besides studying host proteins that we have identified from the degradomics analysis of clinically important enteroviruses, we continue to extend this analysis to viruses from other families with the goal to get a global view of cellular pathways commonly targeted or co-opted by diverse viruses. These studies are expected to provide novel insights into cell biology, antiviral defenses, and disease mechanisms. Also, viral proteases are one of the prime targets for antiviral development, and therefore deeper insights into their function will help improve viral therapeutics.

Publications

  • Published 4/7/2026

    Johnston R, Brekker MA, Khalil N, Goldstein ME, Aldrich A, Grimins AO, Gritli S, Marintchev A, Blower MD, Saeed M, Lyons SM. Proteolytic dissection of eIF4G reveals the closed-loop mRNP as an architecture for translation repression. bioRxiv. 2026 Apr 07. PMID: 41993452.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 1/20/2026

    Sharafi M, Teh WP, Green J, Charifson PS, Wang J, Pemberton OA, Nevins AM, Lye M, Liu X, Varca AC, Owen CD, Morsheimer K, Wacquiez A, Dawson C, Steuber C, Smith J, Girardi NM, Magin RS, Marto JA, Saeed M, Davey RA, Hardee D, Ng TI, Namchuk MN, Buhrlage SJ. Structure-Guided Design of Potent and Selective Covalent Inhibitors Targeting the SARS-CoV-2 Papain-like Protease. J Med Chem. 2026 Feb 12; 69(3):2197-2214. PMID: 41557701.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 10/8/2025

    Beusch CM, Morningstar C, Semaan M, Monaco CM, Welbourn S, Swaldi H, Ko JK, Kenney D, Sousa A, Sakai H, Liu D, Akiyama H, Saeed M, Gordon DE. A scalable proteogenomic framework for dissecting phospho-signaling pathways in primary immune cells. bioRxiv. 2025 Oct 08. PMID: 41279008.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 9/7/2025

    Kenney D, Matsuo M, Unali G, Wacquiez A, Saeed M, Douam F. Comprehensive Analysis of the Impact of Weight Loss Thresholds on Mouse Models of Fatal Viral Infection. Viruses. 2025 Sep 07; 17(9). PMID: 41012653.

    Read at: PubMed

  • Published 6/12/2025

    Caobi A, Su CM, Beusch CM, Kenney D, Darling TL, Feng S, Semaan M, Wacquiez A, Sanders NL, Tully ES, Chen DY, Evdokimova M, Ding Z, Jones D, Alysandratos KD, Mizgerd JP, Kirchdoerfer RN, Kotton DN, Douam F, Crossland NA, Boon ACM, Gordon DE, Baker SC, Saeed M. SARS-CoV-2 nsp15 enhances viral virulence by subverting host antiviral defenses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2025 Jun 17; 122(24):e2426528122. PMID: 40504150.

    Read at: PubMed

View All 72 Publications:   View Full Profile in BUMC

Other Positions

  • Faculty, National Emerging Infectious Disease Lab
    Boston University
  • Member, Genome Science Institute
    Boston University

Websites

Education

  • University of Tokyo, PhD
  • University of Agriculture Faisalabad, DVM
  • Quaid-i-azam Univ, MPhil

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