IBT Receives NIH R01 grant to study the mechanisms of ebolavirus vaccine protection

April 2017

IBT and University of Maryland receive a collaborative R01 research grant from NIH, Evolution of anti-filovirus B cell responses and mechanisms of protection.

Filoviruses represent A major global public health threat.  While major progress has been made towards development of vaccines against the Zaire Ebola virus (EBOV), development of broadly protective vaccines for filoviruses is lagging behind.  Furthermore, the mechanisms of protective immunity against filoviruses is not well understood.

Under this grant IBT will collaborate with Dr. Yuxing Li’s laboratory at the University of Maryland to better understand mechanisms of evolution of a protective antibody response against filoviruses.  The study will focus on the responses that are protective against multiple filovirus species.  Furthermore, in this study the teams in collaboration with USAMRIID, PHA Canada and Merck will study the detailed profile of antibody response to ebolavirus vaccines as well as responses to natural infections using samples from filovirus outbreaks in Africa as well as clinical trials of EBOV vaccines.