Dr Megat HBA Hamid is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya. He is an immunobiologist with over nine years of experience in immune-biology, receptor-ligand signalling and spatial tissue immunology. His past work focuses on investigating the intrinsic signalling modulating immune resposnes of cytotoxic T and antibody-producing B cells. In UM, his work focuses on expanding beyond intrinsic T and B cell mechanisms, by exploring the cross-talks between immune, stromal and structural cells in the development and regulation of barrier tissue immunity, as well as during spatial and temporal progression of a disease (with a particular focus on lung injury, lung cancer and lung infections). He leverages cutting-edge technologies- including spatial proteo-transcriptomics, organoid modelling and co-culture functional assays to study cellular heterogeneity, disease-immune dynamics and therapeutic targets.

He did his DPhil in Medical Sciences at the MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine, University of Oxford following completion of his undergraduate Bachelor of Biotechnology at the Australian National University. He later held postdoctoral appointments at Oxford Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford (2020-2025), where he led and co-authored multiple high-impact studies, including in Nature Immunology, Cancer Immunology Research, Frontiers of Immunology and Thorax. His research has received international recognition through invited talks, travel awards and poster prize at leading conferences including Keystone Symposium and International Congress of Immunology.

He also has experience working in industry, as an intern at the University-Industry Partnership Department, Bioeconomy Corporation, Malaysia in 2015. He has served as a reviewer for journals (Communications Biology and Immunotherapy Advances) and for international grant bodies such as the Dutch Research Council. In 2023, he was awarded the University of Oxford's Award for Excellence- recognising his passion and motivation on immunological research.