Virology Laboratory

Kong Research Group

The Virology Core is committed to developing new vaccine candidates and new vaccine vector systems for antigen delivery against human pathogens. The Virology Core also applies and develops new molecular biology technology to evaluate vaccine candidates to facilitate vaccine development.  

Photo of Kong Research Group Members

Virology Core, 2022: Front Row (left to right) Kwanyee Leung, Staff Scientist, Wei Shi, Staff Scientist, Eun Sung, Yang, Biologist, Man Chen, Staff Scientist, Yi Zhang, Biologist, John Mascola, former Chief of Virology Laboratory, Andrea Biju, IRTA Postbac, Misook Choe, Biologist, Danealle, K, Parchment, INRO Postbac, Cuiping Liu, Senior Scientist, Wing-Pui, Kong, Chief of Virology Core, Cheng Cheng, Head of vaccine research Back Row (left to right): , Lingshu Wang, Staff Scientist, Xuejun Chen, Staff Scientist, Hongying Duan, Staff Scientist, Jonah, S, Merriam, IRTA Postbac, Sabrina Helmold Hait, Research Fellow, Chloe Adrienna G. Talana, IRTA Postbac, Sarah, E, Lovelace, IRTA Postbac, Hannah R. Shrade, IRTA Postbac, Cody Stein, IRTA Postbac, Sam Charaf, IRTA Postbac, Amarendra Pegu, Head of Antibody research

Credit: NIAID

Wing-Pui Kong, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)

Chief, Virology Core

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Education: Ph.D., 1993, The University of Chicago, IL

Dr. Kong received his Ph.D. in 1993 in virology at the University of Chicago, where he studied the molecular pathogenesis of picornaviruses, a class of viruses that contribute to the development of central nervous system disease. He made significant contributions to the elucidation of the mechanism by which these viruses induce disease. Dr. Kong then completed a postdoctoral fellowship and...

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Wing-Pui Kong, Ph.D.

Andrea Biju, B.S. (She/Her/Hers)

Postbaccalaureate Fellow 

Contact: For contact information, search the NIH Enterprise Directory.

Education:

B.S., University of California, San Diego

Languages Spoken: Malayalam

As a postbaccalaureate fellow, Andrea Biju works on the Animal Studies team evaluating immune responses in various animal models. Her work involves running assays to assess the effectiveness of various vaccine candidates as well as working on the development of potential vaccine candidates.

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Sam Charaf, B.S. (He/Him/His)

IRTA Postbaccalaureate Fellow 

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Education:

B.S., Georgetown University, Washington, DC

Sam Charaf is a postbaccalaureate fellow in the Virology Core. He assists in basic research and preclinical testing of vaccinations against HIV and other infectious pathogens.

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Man Chen, M.D. (She/Her/Hers)

Staff Scientist 

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Languages Spoken: Mandarin

As a staff scientist, Dr. Chen is involved in the characterization and discovery of anti-SARS-CoV-2 and anti-RSV monoclonal antibodies (mAbs). In addition to her work on mAbs, she develops serology assays to evaluate the immunogenicity of vaccine candidates. Dr. Chen has also been involved in the development of RSV vaccines.

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Xuejun Chen, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)

Lab Manager, Staff Scientist 

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Education:

Ph.D., Rutgers University

M.S., John Hopkins University

B.S., Peking University

Languages Spoken: Mandarin

Dr. Chen’s research focuses on development of HIV vaccines targeting the vulnerable epitopes of the HIV envelope to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), especially VRC-01 class bnAbs. He tests candidate vaccine regimens in various animal models for their ability to elicit bnAbs and isolates and characterizes the elicited antibodies to guide further vaccine design. As the lab manager, he...

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Cheng Cheng, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)

Staff Scientist 

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Education:

Ph.D., Nagoya University

Languages Spoken: Chinese, Japanese

As leader of the HIV-1 Vaccine Group, Dr. Cheng is responsible for developing HIV-1 vaccine candidates that elicit neutralizing antibodies. The group focuses on structure-based design of immunogens to target vulnerable sites of the native spike of HIV-1. The vaccine candidates are evaluated in animal models and in human clinical trials.

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Misook Choe, M.S. (She/Her/Hers)

Biologist 

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Education:

M.S., Gyeongsang National University

B.S., Gyeongsang National University

Languages Spoken: Korean

Misook Choe has skills in recombinant protein production and characterization to produce immunogens, monoclonal antibody reagents, antibodies against SARS-CoV-2, HIV, and Ebola. She has more than 16 years of experience in molecular cloning, cell biology, performing PCR, DNA and RNA preparation, mammalian cell transfection, using CHO cells for scale up production in a bioreactor, ELISA, and...

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Arik Cooper, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)

Senior Scientist 

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Education:

Ph.D., Weizmann Institute of Science
B.S., Tel Aviv University

Dr. Cooper's research interests are the mechanisms of HIV-1 replication, pathogenesis, and persistence. His work focuses on virus-host cell interactions with the aim of discovering novel therapeutic strategies for HIV-1 cure and prevention.

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Hongying Duan (Holdsworth), M.D., Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)

Staff Scientist

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Education:

M.D., Shandong University, China

Ph.D., Saitama Medical University, Japan

Languages Spoken: Mandarin

Dr. Duan received her M.D. degree from Shandong University, China, and received her Ph.D. degree from Saitama Medical University, Japan in Biomedical Research/Microbiology. She worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in U.S. Food and Drug Administration, (CBER), Laboratory of Hepatitis Viruses between 2008-2014. She joined Vaccine Research Center in 2014.

Learn more about Hongying Duan (Holdsworth), M.D., Ph.D.

Portrait of Hongying Duan (Holdsworth), Ph.D.

Sabrina Helmold Hait, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)

Research Fellow 

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Education:

Ph.D., Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

B.S., Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Languages Spoken: Portuguese, Spanish

As a research fellow at the VRC, Dr. Helmold Hait investigates virologic effect and therapeutic application of HIV-1 broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) in ex-vivo and pre-clinical studies. She is also analyzing viral signatures associated with resistance to anti-env bnAbs.

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Kwanyee Leung, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)

Staff Scientist 

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Education:

Ph.D., Michigan State University

B.S., Rutgers University

Languages Spoken: Cantonese

Dr. Leung develops and optimizes pseudotyped lentivirus neutralization assays for influenza and coronaviruses. He also evaluates the neutralization activities of vaccinated human and animal sera and monoclonal antibodies against influenza and coronaviruses.

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Cuiping Liu, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)

Senior Scientist 

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Education:

Ph.D., Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Languages Spoken: Mandarin

Dr. Liu conducts research and development on nanoparticle vaccine candidates and therapeutic antibodies against coronaviruses and other infections pathogens. She is also responsible for standardizing assays and assay development, including but not limited to ELISA, autoreactivity assays of monoclonal antibodies, and binding assays. In addition, she also oversees protein production with low...

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Sarah E. Lovelace, B.S. (She/Her/Hers)

Postbaccalaureate Fellow 

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Education:

B.S., Trinity University, San Antonio, TX

Sarah Lovelace is a postbaccalaureate fellow working with the Passive Team within the Virology Core. She works primarily with preclinical models of HIV treatments using broadly neutralizing antibodies and examines the viral resistance that is selected for under these treatments.

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Jonah S. Merriam, B.S. (He/Him/His)

Postbaccalaureate Fellow 

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Education:

B.S., California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo

Jonah Merriam assists in the development and testing of nanoparticle vaccines against coronaviruses and other infectious pathogens. He works primarily on monitoring antibody responses to vaccine candidates in animal trials. Jonah also works on a range of assays that aid in the testing of novel therapeutic antibodies.

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Danealle K. Parchment, B.S. (She/Her/Hers)

INRO Postbaccalaureate Fellow 

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Education:

B.S., Washington University, St. Louis

As a postbaccalaureate fellow in the Virology Core, Danealle Parchment works to develop and assess novel immunogens for their ability to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies against HIV-1 through multiple animal studies. Danealle’s research interests are the interface of global health and infectious disease research and investigating the immunological determinants of disease susceptibility and...

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Amarendra Pegu, Ph.D. (He/Him/His)

Head, Antibody Research 

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Education:

Ph.D., University of Pittsburgh

Languages Spoken: Hindi

As Head of Antibody Research in the Virology Core, Dr. Pegu leads and manages a group of scientists that are involved in developing antibody-based therapies for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases caused by HIV-1, SARS-CoV-2, Ebola virus and other pathogens.

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Wei Shi, M.D., Ph.D. (He/Him/His)

Biologist

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Education:

Ph.D., Uppsala University, Sweden

M.D., TongJi Medical College of HUST, Wuhan, China

Languages Spoken: Mandarin

Dr. Shi research focuses on the design and development of pan-coronavirus vaccines and broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against coronaviruses, a virus-like particle (VPL) vaccine for enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68), and protein probes for HIV, influenza, EV-D68, coronavirus, and for monoclonal antibodies discovery, such as SARS-CoV-2-S1, SARS-CoV-2 RBD and SARS-CoV-2 NTD, and hu-ACE2. He is...

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Hannah R. Shrader, B.S., B.A. (She/Her/Hers)

IRTA Postbaccalaureate Fellow 

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Education:

B.A., B.S., University of Iowa

As a member of the Virology Core’s Passive Team, Hannah Shrader focuses on identifying promising clinical treatment options for HIV-1 infection, including the development of prediction models for HIV-1 treatment resistance. Her research focuses on guiding new protocols into clinically-focused projects with the goal of improving final clinical outcomes.

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Chloe Adrienna G. Talana, B.S. (She/Her/Hers)

IRTA Postbaccalaureate Fellow 

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Education:

B.S., Chaminade University of Honolulu

Languages Spoken: Ilocano, Tagalog

As a postbaccalaureate fellow in the Virology Core, Chloe Talana is involved in several research projects that explore the capacity of neutralizing antibodies specific for HIV and SARS-CoV-2 as potential therapeutics.

Learn more about Chloe Adrienna G. Talana, B.S.

Lingshu Wang, Ph.D. (She/Her/Hers)

Staff Scientist 

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Education:

Ph.D., Shanghai JiaoTong University, China

Languages Spoken: Mandarin

Dr. Wang leads a team to assess neutralization activities of vaccinated animal sera and monoclonal antibodies against coronaviruses (CoV) and influenza. She designs and evaluates subunit and gene-based vaccines against CoV, flu, Enterovirus-D68 (EV-D68). Additionally, she isolates and identifies potent neutralizing antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and other CoVs.

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Eun Sung Yang, M.A. (She/Her/Hers)

Biologist

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Education:

M.A., Seoul National University

B.A., Seoul National University

Languages Spoken: Korean

Eun Sung Yang specializes in animal studies, including studying the pharmacokinetic and immunogenic properties of therapeutics and vaccine candidates. She also has expertise in pseudovirus production for infectious viruses such as HIV-1, influenza, and coronavirus and performing neutralization assays using them.

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Yi Zhang, B.S. (She/Her/Hers)

Biologist

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Languages Spoken: Mandarin

As a biologist, Yi Zhang is involved with research projects related to coronavirus and influenza vaccine development and monoclonal antibody evaluation for therapeutic uses. Her expertise includes using neutralization assays to identify the immune response to vaccine candidates, as well as characterizing mAbs isolated from the blood of convalescent or immunized animals to select mAbs with high...

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Former Research Group Members

Jeffrey Boyington, Ph.D. — Retired 

Keyun Wang, B.S.— Des Moines University 

Yen-Ting Lai, Ph.D.— Moderna 

Sung-Youl Ko, Ph.D. — iLAB, Co., Ltd. 

Gordon Joyce, Ph.D.— Walter Reed Army Institute of Research 

Rebecca Rudicell, Ph.D.— Sanofi 

Kevin Saunders, Ph.D.— Duke University 

Daniel Lingwood, Ph.D.— Massachusetts Institute of Technology 

Hadi Yassine, Ph.D.— Qatar University 

Guillaume Stewart-Jones, Ph.D.— Moderna 

Mangaiarkarasi Asokan, Ph.D.— Christian Medical College Vellore 

Tiffany Chan, M.S.— GSK  

Kurt Hill, B.S.— Thomas Jefferson Medical School 

Michelle Cully, B.S.— University of Pennsylvania 

Edward Sarfo, B.S.— Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 

Megan DeMouth, B.S.— Albert Einstein College of Medicine 

Angela Corrigan, B.S.— University of Pennsylvania 

Samhita Sengupta, B.S.— Georgetown University  

Cassandra Almasri, B.S.— Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center 

Harlan Pietz, B.S.— The Rockefeller University 

Angela Wu, B.S.— University of Maryland 

Alexander Jafari, B.S. — Tulane University School of Medicine 

Anna Maximova, B.S.— University of Maryland 

Zacchary Mankoff, B.S.— Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania 

Timothy Wanninger, B.S.— University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston 

Rita Chen, B.S.— Washington University 

Adam Bossert, B.S.— Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai 

Paul Thomas, B.S.— University of California, San Francisco 

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