Moir Research Group

Immunologic studies of human B cells in HIV and other infectious and non-infectious diseases

Members of the B-Cell Immunology Section Research Group

Members of the B-Cell Immunology Section Research Group
Front Row: Wei Wang, Susan Moir, Christine Youn, Xiaozhen Zhang, Clarisa Buckner
Back Row: Marissa Hand, Lala Kardava, Valerie Melson, Wes Austin

Credit: NIAID

Susan Moir, Ph.D.

Chief, B-Cell Immunology Section

Education: Ph.D., 1996, University Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada

Dr. Moir received her Ph.D. in immunology and microbiology from the University Laval, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada, in 1996. Her Ph.D. studies were supported by a scholarship from the National Health Research and Development Program of Canada. In 1996, Dr. Moir came to the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation (LIR) as a Visiting Fellow. Dr. Moir was appointed to the position of Staff Scientist in...

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Felipe Lopes de Assis, Ph.D.

Post-doctoral Fellow

Education:

Ph.D., M.S., Federal University of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

B.S., University of Itauna, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Languages Spoken: Portuguese

Dr. Assis joined the LIR as a Visiting Fellow in early 2020. His research initially focused on understanding the regulatory mechanisms involved on B cell maturation during chronic HIV infection but since the pandemic, has focused on evaluating the correlates and potential determinants of immunity in response to SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-based vaccination. He has also implemented multiomic technologies to...

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Clarisa M. Buckner, Ph.D.

Biologist

Education:

Ph.D., Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University, Bronx, NY

Dr. Buckner uses novel technologies that combine confocal microscopy and flow cytometry to study B cells as well as other populations in lymphoid tissue sections of people living with HIV. She provides expertise in immunophenotyping, antigen-specific and functional B-cell analyses to the Moir lab and to many collaborators in NIAID and beyond. In addition, she oversees the processing and storage of...

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Lela Kardava, Ph.D.

Staff Scientist, B-Cell Immunology Section

Education:

Ph.D., 2002, Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia

Dr. Kardava received her Ph.D. in Immunology from the Tbilisi State University, Georgia in 2002. She conducted her postdoctoral research at the Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh. In 2008, Dr. Kardava joined the Laboratory of Immunoregulation (LIR) at NIAID as a postdoctoral visiting fellow and in 2011, she became a research fellow. In 2016, she was appointed as a staff scientist in the B-Cell Immunology Section, LIR.

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Connor Smith

Postbaccalaureate IRTA Fellow

Education:

B.S., University of Virginia, VA

Connor Smith’s research is focused on using single-cell multiomic technology to investigate the transcriptional and phenotypic properties of B cells that underlie their response to vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 as well as during HIV infection.

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Wei Wang, M.S.

Biologist

Education:

M.S., Fisk University, Nashville, TN

M.S., Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin, China

Languages Spoken: Chinese

Wei utilizes her background in molecular biology and microbiology to actively support research projects involved studying the role of B cells in the pathogenesis of HIV disease. She is currently working on B-cell responses to COVID-19 mRNA vaccines.

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Xiaozhen Zhang, M.S.

Biologist

Education:

M.S., University of California – Irvine at Irvine, CA

Languages Spoken: Mandarin

Xiaozhen Zhang is currently focused on investigating the molecular aspects of B cell receptor repertoires during HIV and SARS-Cov-2 infection using single B cell cloning technology, BCR bulk sequencing and 10x genomics technology. She also performs neutralization, binding, and competition assays to assess neutralization and binding activities of anti-HIV and anti-SARS-Cov-2 antibodies.

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