Ashley Nelson
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
A vaccine that protects against HIV has to do something hard: train the immune system to make broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs), antibodies that block the many different strains of the virus circulating worldwide. Ordinary vaccines mostly raise narrow antibodies.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
HIV vaccine
broadly neutralizing antibodies
bnAbs
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2030
What they work on
- Compare giving germline-targeting HIV envelope immunogens one after another versus all at once for waking up precursor B cells of two broadly neutralizing antibody classes: those binding the CD4 binding site and those binding the V2 apex of the viral spike.
- Test whether a multivalent prime-boost regimen, using several engineered HIV env immunogens, better drives the development and maturation of broadly neutralizing antibody lineages toward neutralization breadth.
- Define how vaccine-elicited B cell responses and monoclonal antibodies evolve after immunization with B cell lineage-designed immunogens, using a structure-to-sequence approach that links antibody sequences to the shapes they adopt.
- Evaluate nanoparticle-delivered envelope constructs designed to induce two distinct broadly neutralizing antibody lineages in the setting of early-life immune maturation.
More about the research
In 2023 adolescents and young people accounted for about a quarter of new HIV infections globally, so immunity ideally should be in place before adolescence. The window after weaning but before sexual debut is a time of relatively low infection risk, which makes it a good moment to give a multi-dose vaccine series. Children living with HIV can develop broad antibodies quickly, hinting that the young immune system may be especially trainable.
Why it matters
HIV still infects adolescents and young people at high rates, and no licensed vaccine exists. By testing how to start a vaccine series in early childhood and steer antibody-producing cells toward antibodies that neutralize many viral strains, this work could shape a regimen that establishes cross-protective immunity before adolescence, and would inform which immunogen designs advance to preclinical and human clinical trials.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Ian Wilson
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how GT1.1-primed antibodies against the CD4 binding site, the pocket HIV uses to grip host cells, recognize shaping and polishing immunogens, using X-ray crystallography, electron microscopy and biophysical analysis of responses from mice, non-human primates and human trial participants.
Wei Li
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Microbiology & Immunology
Engineer soluble CD4 D1-domain variants with improved binding kinetics and isolate single-domain VH binders against CD4-induced epitopes on HIV envelope, combining computational structure design, phage display and time-resolved cryo-electron microscopy.
Justin Bailey
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether a dengue vaccine's serotype composition determines the balance, neutralizing potency, and durability of serotype-specific versus cross-reactive memory B cells and monoclonal antibodies, and whether those responses predict protection after controlled human challenge with serotype 2.
The school
Weill Medical College of Cornell University: 35 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 59 research doctorates a year.
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