Jonathan Herman
University of California-Los Angeles, CA·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Malaria infects more than 200 million people each year. The only vaccine in current use, RTS,S, which targets a parasite surface protein called circumsporozoite protein (CSP), protects fewer than half of recipients, and only briefly.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Public Health & Epidemiology
- Topics
malaria
Plasmodium falciparum
PfSPZ vaccine
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Dec 2028
What they work on
- Define functional antibody correlates of protection in malaria-exposed PfSPZ vaccinees, and how pre-existing anti-malarial antibodies affect vaccination, using serum from vaccination and controlled human malaria infection trials.
- Identify new protective antibody targets across the whole Plasmodium falciparum proteome, using a whole-proteome serology approach on vaccinee serum.
- Determine how IgM antibodies against SSP2/TRAP, a parasite protein used for host cell invasion, protect against sporozoites.
More about the research
A different vaccine, PfSPZ, uses whole weakened sporozoites (the parasite stage injected by mosquitoes) and gives over 90% protection in people never exposed to malaria. That protection drops in people who have had malaria before. Learning which antibodies make PfSPZ work could guide better vaccines.
Why it matters
A long-lasting, highly effective vaccine is needed to eliminate malaria, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Identifying which antibodies and parasite targets explain PfSPZ protection could guide next-generation vaccine design. Learning why protection drops in previously infected people could help make vaccines that work for the populations most at risk.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Juergen Bosch
Case Western Reserve University, OH·Biochemistry
Improve existing anti-malarial antibodies and design new ones based on humAb826827 and 864865, which bind PvAMA1, a Plasmodium vivax surface protein required to invade cells, by computationally generating about 1,000 antibody scaffolds per target epitope.
Marcela Pasetti
University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD·Microbiology & Immunology
Optimize process development, formulation and scale-up of two-strain O-polysaccharide conjugates in which Shigella sugar is linked to IpaB, an invasion protein shared across Shigella species, made by cell-free protein expression.
Evelien Bunnik
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
Identify which atypical B cell subsets are linked to protection against malaria, using spectral flow cytometry on malaria-experienced children matched for age and exposure but differing in immunity.
The school
University of California-Los Angeles: 84 labs on PI Pages, $1.9B a year on research, 803 research doctorates a year.
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