Developing immunobiologics that deliver antigen-specific and co-stimulatory signals to focally activate CD8+ T Cells.
One novel approach we are pioneering is the application of new immune checkpoint modulating biologics, which stimulate the immune system to kill tumor cells and have revolutionized cancer treatment, to amplify the cytotoxic activity of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells and increase their capacity to eliminate HIV-infected cells. For this purpose, we are applying synTac, a novel class of soluble precision-targeted immunomodulatory biologics developed by the Almo lab at Einstein.
Our laboratory is utilizing novel molecular, cellular and biochemical approaches to “hack” the human immune system and amplify its activity to enable it to recognize and eliminate reactivated latent HIV-infected T cells (LHITC) and thereby achieve the functional cure of HIV-1 infection. Our lab is part of the NIH-funded Martin Delaney Collaboratory: Towards an HIV-1 Cure program established to fulfill President Barack Obama’s pledge to invest in HIV cure research. The goal of the Delaney program is to unite and synergize the research programs of highly talented investigators to accelerate the development of a safe and scalable cure for HIV.
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Elucidating the Impact of Costimulation on Memory T-Cells
We developing synTac-based therapeutics linked to different costimulatory ligands and/or cytokines to identify the optimal signals required for the specific in vitro and in vivo activation and expansion of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells
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Stimulating the Naive CD8+ T Cell Repertoire
We are validating the use of synTac as an activation signal for naive CD8+ T cells, generating de novo T cell responses against immunogenic epitopes
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Mobilizing Antigen-Specific CD8+ T Cell
We are developing a new class of biologics designed to selectively activate and expand cytomegalovirus-specific CD8+ T cells and redirect these cells to eliminate HIV-infected cells.