Research Interests Characterizing protective antibody responses to SIV and HIV infection and vaccination; defining mechanisms and identifying the role of variation on antibody-mediated neutralization; antigen-antibody interactions; B cell responses in chronic virus infection. Research Summary Our research focuses on understanding the role of humoral immune responses involved in HIV-1 and the closely related SIV infection and vaccination. We are interested in defining the mechanisms involved in antibody-mediated virus neutralization in vitro, evaluating the effects of variation on virus neutralization in vitro and in vivo, and determining the role of neutralizing antibody in the control of infection and disease progression in vivo. For these studies, we have recently focused our efforts on the real-time binding of virus-specific antibody to envelope antigens using biosensor analyses, and are interested in defining the specific envelope determinants involved in antibody binding. Our goal is to apply similar neutralization studies of HIV-1 to vaccinated and infected patients. A second major goal of the lab is to characterize the protective immune responses to experimental infection and vaccination in the SIV/monkey model system as a basis for the development and evaluation of effective AIDS vaccines. We are interested in the development of novel assays to characterize the maturation of antibody responses to SIV and HIV-1 envelope proteins, the evaluation of antibody responses elicited by diverse vaccine strategies as correlates of protection, and the application of biochemical and molecular approaches to identify functional and antigenic determinants of these envelope proteins. We are currently focusing our efforts on characterizing the maturation of B cell responses to chronic virus infection, and to studies involving characterization of the immunogenic and protective immune responses elicited by modified HIV-1 envelope vaccines using a DNA prime, virus-like particle boost regimen in both small animal and nonhuman primate models.   Selected Publications Milush JM, Reeves JD, Gordon SN, Zhou D, Muthukumar A, Kosub DA, Chacko E, Giavedoni LD, Ibegbu CC, Cole KS, Miamidian JL, Paiardini M, Barry AP, Staprans SI, Silvestri G, Sodora DL. Virally induced CD4+ T cell depletion is not sufficient to induce AIDS in a natural host. J Immunol. 2007 Sep 1;179(5):3047-56. Gupta S, Leutenegger CM, Dean GA, Steckbeck JD, Cole KS, Sparger EE. Vaccination of cats with attenuated feline immunodeficiency virus proviral DNA vaccine expressing gamma interferon. J Virol. 2007 Jan;81(2):465-73. Epub 2006 Nov 1. Steckbeck JD, Cole KS. Dissecting the humoral immune response to simian immunodeficiency virus: mechanisms of antibody-mediated virus neutralization. Immunol Res. 2006;36(1-3):51-60. Review. McBurney SP, Young KR, Nwaigwe CI, Soloff AC, Cole KS, Ross TM. Lentivirus-like particles without reverse transcriptase elicit efficient immune responses. Curr HIV Res. 2006 Oct;4(4):475-84. Forthal DN, Landucci G, Cole KS, Marthas M, Becerra JC, Van Rompay K. Rhesus macaque polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies inhibit simian immunodeficiency virus in the presence of human or autologous rhesus effector cells. J Virol. 2006 Sep;80(18):9217-25. Complete Publication Listing   Grant Support Novavax, Inc. Research Agreement Principal Investigator: T. M. Ross Role: Co-Investigator NIH/NIDCR: Factors influencing oral transmission of SIV. Role: Co-Investigator   Other Links CVR Webpage University of Pittsburgh

Kelly Stefano Cole, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Office:  8039 BST3 Lab:BST3 Phone:412-648-8583 Fax: 412-648-8521 stefcole@cvr.pitt.edu   Academic Affiliations Assistant Professor of Medicine (Primary), Immunology (Secondary) and Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (Secondary) Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine Associate Director, Regional Bio-containment Laboratory, Center for Vaccine Research   Education 1987 B.S. Biology Mount Saint Mary's College Emmitsburg, MD 1994 Ph.D. Immunology University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA Post-doc University of Pittsburgh Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry   Lab Personnel Graduate Student: David Kuhrt Postdoctoral Associate: Seth Faith, PhD