Doria-Rose Research Group

Credit: Richard Koup

The aims of AIMS are: 

• To understand pathways of HIV broadly neutralizing antibody (bNAb) development and co-evolution with virus
• To design and test HIV vaccines inspired by antibody-virus co-evolution studies
• To discover and characterize new HIV bNAbs with potential clinical use
• To understand SARS-CoV-2 and pan-sarbecovirus antibody development

Neutralizing antibodies, which block virus infection, are critical components of effective immune responses and the correlate of protection for many licensed vaccines. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) against HIV are able to recognize diverse HIV strains from around the world; eliciting bNAbs will be a crucial function of a protective vaccine. While no candidate HIV vaccine has yet succeeded in eliciting bNAbs, a fraction of people living with HIV develop them naturally. We are studying these cases to understand the way the bNAbs target HIV and how they develop over time. We previously showed that viral escape mutants drive the development of breadth in antibodies targeting the apex of the HIV Envelope protein (the viral “spike”), and identified key early changes in bNAbs targeting the HIV Env membrane-proximal external region. Work continues to understand virus-antibody co-evolution for these and other targets on HIV Env. These studies provide a blueprint for vaccine design as we strive to elicit bNAbs. Along the way, we are identifying highly potent bNAbs that may be useful as drugs for HIV prevention. 
Using a similar conceptual framework and methods, we are studying antibodies in COVID-19 infected and vaccinated people. We are isolating antibodies with potential clinical use against SARS-CoV-2 and also against related coronaviruses with potential to cause the next pandemic; and studying the development of these antibodies, to improve vaccine designs.