The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Peter Kwong, Ph.D., structural biology section, Vaccine Research Center, National Institutes of Health

Speaker bio(s)

The ability of structural biology to provide an atomic-level understanding of biological interactions, coupled to the recent and developing ability of structural bioinformatics to manipulate protein antigens, has raised interest in rational vaccine design. Can structural biology assist in creating an effective HIV-1 vaccine? Unlike structure-based drug design, where improvements to a small-molecule lead can occur by direct chemical modification based on an atomic-level inspection of the lead-target complex, a structure-based vaccine would require alterations in immunogens. These immunogens target the humoral immune system, which then produces antibodies. The immunogen-immune system-antibody development process is far more complicated to manipulate than a small molecule lead. Such manipulation will likely require an understanding of the interaction of antibodies and HIV-1 and the manipulation of the immune system to elicit and to mature the desired antibody response. The first part of this challenge has been met with atomic-level structures of potent neutralizing antibodies in complex with their target HIV-1 Env epitopes. The second part of this challenge is now being attempted.  Detailed knowledge of the development of broadly neutralizing antibodies is likely to be required, and Dr. Kwong and his colleagues have recently developed deep sequencing technologies to provide genetic roadmaps of the development of broad neutralizing antibodies. 

Dr. Kwong entered the University of Chicago at age 16 and earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry and physics and a master's degree in biochemistry by age 20. He earned his second master's degree and his doctoral degree in biochemistry and molecular biophysics from Columbia University, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow. Dr. Kwong joined the Dale and Betty Bumpers Vaccine Research Center as chief of the structural biology section in the laboratory of virology.

Dr. Kwong has received a Burroughs Wellcome Fund Career Award in Biomedical Sciences, a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and the Director's Award of the National Institutes of Health.

Open to

Public

Host

Michel Nussenzweig

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Robert Houghtaling

Phone

(212) 327-8072

Sponsor

Robert Houghtaling
(212) 327-8072
rhoughtali@rockefeller.edu