Johnson Mak

Johnson Mak is Professor at Griffith University's Institute for Biomedicine and Glycomics, specializing in HIV assembly and viral-host interactions. His research career began with a PhD at McGill University studying tRNA packaging in HIV, followed by positions at the Burnet Institute, Monash University, Deakin University, and CSIRO. Mak is recognized as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and Australian Society for Microbiology.

His research examines virus attachment and assembly mechanisms across HIV, animal retroviruses, flaviviruses, and coronaviruses. Key discoveries include glycan-glycan interactions functioning as molecular Velcro during HIV infection and calcium-regulated trafficking for virological synapse formation.

Mak's publications focus on HIV assembly dynamics, membrane interactions, and glycan-mediated binding. Recent work characterizes host glycocalyx capture of HIV and IRSp53's role in particle assembly.

He currently supervises doctoral projects on novel diagnostic methods and HIV treatment strategies. His laboratory receives funding from NHMRC, NIH, and private donors for projects including SARS-CoV-2 antibody development and glycan-based viral binding inhibition.