Speakers

Personal Information

I study immunity to viral pathogens of global importance including coronaviruses, flaviviruses, and retroviruses. My laboratory of Viral Pathobiology and Immunity studies interactions between viral entry proteins and host antibody responses with the goal of informing universal and broad-based vaccine approaches. In this line of work, we have defined broadly conserved targets in SARS-related viruses that share epitopes with SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. Based on these studies we are developing universal vaccination strategies that harness these broadly conserved epitopes in pandemic coronaviruses and these vaccines can protect animals from disease. In addition, we are interested in defining how antibodies protect or enhance disease against flaviviruses including Dengue virus, Zika virus, West Nile virus, Yellow Fever virus, and other emerging flaviviruses. Our studies on studying coronavirus and flavivirus interactions with host antibody responses are being used to design rational vaccination strategies against these emerging viruses which are a major threat to global public health.