DGHI Affiliate Faculty Sallie Permar Wins Large Federal Grant for HIV Vaccine Study

Sallie_Permar

Sallie Permar, associate professor in the department of pediatrics at Duke and DGHI affiliate faculty member

Published May 18, 2015 under Research News

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) recently awarded a grant of more than $11 million over five years to a collaborative effort led by Sallie Permar, associate professor in the department of pediatrics at Duke and affiliate faculty member of the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI). The grant also involves researchers at the University of North Carolina and the University of California, Davis.

The grant funds two projects and three core facilities to develop a maternal and infant vaccine approach to eliminate pediatric HIV-1 infections. Researchers will use a non-human primate model to test experimental vaccines developed through the Duke Center for HIV/AIDS Immunology and the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. These vaccines have not yet been tested in mother-infant primate models. 

One of these two projects, led by Permar, will focus on eliciting antibody responses in the mother’s plasma and breast milk. The other project, led by Kristina Abel DeParis at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will focus on identifying the most effective infant immunization regimen to elicit long-term protective antibody and T cell responses in infants.

The primate model testing will take place at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis, led by Koen Van Rompay. 

“Much of the global pediatric AIDS epidemic is being driven by virus transmission during breastfeeding, yet breastfeeding is crucial to infant health and survival,” said Permar. “We hope that this work can make progress in deciphering the types of maternal and infant vaccine-elicited immune responses that will allow infants born in areas of high HIV prevalence to breastfeed safely.” 

The NIAID also awarded a five-year HIV vaccine development grant totaling more than $9 million to a team led by Mary Klotman, chair of the department of medicine at Duke’s School of Medicine. Klotman’s grant will support two research projects and two core facilities that together will aim to develop a safe, effective HIV vaccine using a vector delivery strategy to drive a successful immune response.

Both grants draw on the longstanding expertise in the Duke Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology led by Barton Haynes, also a DGHI faculty member.

See the Duke Medicine press release about these grants.

 

 

We hope that this work can make progress in deciphering the types of maternal and infant vaccine-elicited immune responses that will allow infants born in areas of high HIV prevalence to breastfeed safely.

Sallie Permar, associate professor, Duke Pediatrics and DGHI