Zeichner Lab
Principal Investigator: Steven L. Zeichner
Institution: University of Virginia (Charlottesville, VA)
Primary Subfield: Immunology
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
A broad consensus regarding HIV vaccine development calls for engineering antigens that elicit production of antibodies like the known Broadly Neutralizing (BN) Monoclonal Antibodies (MAbs). Two Env BN MAb binding sites, the Membrane Proximal External Region (MPER) and Fusion Peptide (FP), are attractive targets because they are linear peptides. We developed a new, low cost, globally appropriate vaccine platform: Killed Whole Cell (KWC) Genome-Reduced E. coli (grEc), with vaccine antigens expressed on bacterial surfaces using Gram- autotransporters. Using synthetic biology, testable vaccine candidates can be made in ~3 wks for ~$50 each. Vaccines made with the platform will cost ~$1/dose, can be produced in existing factories globally, and have forgiving cold chain requirements. We made coronavirus FP vaccines using the KWC grEc platform and showed clinical efficacy in an animal model. We propose to make KWC grEc HIV vaccines targeting MPER and FP. Our preliminary data show that we can express HIV MPER and FP Ags with this approach and elicit HIV neutralizing sera in mice using an MPER-derived Ag. We hypothesize that the KWC grEc platform, targeting MPER and FP, will yield safe, ef…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01AI176515-04: Globally Appropriate Genome Reduced Killed Whole Bacterial HIV Vaccines (2026)
- 5R01AI176515-03: Globally Appropriate Genome Reduced Killed Whole Bacterial HIV Vaccines (2025)
- 5R01AI176515-02: Globally Appropriate Genome Reduced Killed Whole Bacterial HIV Vaccines (2024)
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