Timely topics roundtable "Vaccinal effect of monoclonal antibodies"

Jean-Daniel Lelièvre, MD, PhD, is a professor of clinical immunology at the Faculty of Medicine in Créteil, near Paris. His basic research activities initially focused on T cell apoptosis, the biology of Tregs and the fundamental aspects of T cell development and disruption after HIV acquisition.. Jean-Daniel has conducted several clinical trials in the field of HIV immune therapies (role of anti-CCR5 treatment optimization in people diagnosed late with HIV; role of raltegravir during renal transplantation; and IL7 treatment for HIV).

In recent years, his research and expertise have refocused on the field of vaccinology. He is re-sponsible for the clinical core of the Vaccine Research Institute and the WP 8 (prophylactic vaccine) of the European HIV Vaccine Alliance, both of which aim to promote a comprehensive approach to the development of an effective HIV vaccine. His multiple activities in the field of vaccines include being responsible for a WP within the European Joint Action on Vaccination and Vaccelerate (dedi-cated to the COVID-19 vaccine) and using his expertise nationally (for the French NITAG) and inter-nationally (for WHO IVIR-AC, SAG EMA). He joined the HIV Vaccine Enterprise in early 2023.

Mireia Pelegrin, PhD, VMD, obtained her veterinary degree in Barcelona. She then did a PhD at the Autonomous University of Barcelona focused on the development of transgenic mice as models of diabetes. Mireia moved to France for postdoctoral training at the Institute of Molecular Genetics of Montpellier. She worked on the development of gene and cell therapy approaches for in vivo production of therapeutic monoclonal antibodies, a project that led to two international patents.

In 2000, Mireia became Senior Researcher at the CNRS, where she was a project leader of a research programme on antiviral immunotherapies. In 2019, she moved to the Institute for Regenerative Medicine and Biotherapies of Montpellier to lead the group, Antibodies and Immunomodulation.

Mireia has long experience in the study of host-pathogen interactions, as well as in antiviral immunotherapies. She pioneered the proof of concept that monoclonal antibody-based immunotherapies can induce long-term protective adaptive immune responses (vaccine-like effects). She has published over 40 articles related to immunovirology and antiviral immunotherapies. Her current work aims to develop innovative immunotherapies based on monoclonal antibodies, antibody-derived molecules and cell therapies. She also aims to decipher and harness antibody-mediated immunomodulation mechanisms for therapeutic strategies.

Ole Søgaard is an infectious disease physician at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, and a Professor in the Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus Uni-versity. After receiving his PhD in HIV epidemiology in 2011, he transitioned his research focus to experimental research in virus infections.

In 2015-2016, Ole was a visiting researcher in the Nussenzweig Laboratory of Molecular Immunol-ogy at The Rockefeller University, New York. A physician-scientist, he has extensive training in both basic science immunology/virology and clinical medicine. His research lab is focused on the under-standing of virus pathogenesis and persistence, including clinical investigations into immune modu-lation therapies, broadly neutralizing antibodies and reversal of HIV-1 latency.

Elise Landais’ experience spans both T and B cell immunology, focusing on discovery and characterization of antigen-specific responses in collaboration with global partners.

Elise earned her PhD from INSERM in France and completed her postdoctoral studies at The Scripps Research Institute in California, USA. Since joining the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in 2011, her work has focused on HIV and broadly neutralizing antibodies, both in natural infection in human and various immunization animal models to inform vaccine design. Leveraging her experience, she co-led the rapid isolation of COVID-19 antibodies in the early stages of the pandemic.

Elise now leads IAVI’s work in antibody research capacity building and strengthening in Africa and India through global partnerships to maximize global health impact.

Colin Havenar-Daughton is the Director of Immunology at Vir Biotechnology. He earned his PhD in immunology from the University of Washington. Colin conducted postdoctoral studies in Shane Crotty’s laboratory at the La Jolla Institute, where he focused on the immunological underpinnings of vaccination and applied these learnings to HIV vaccine development. At Vir, he aims to contribute to the development of novel therapeutic and prophylactic medicines for a wide array of infectious diseases, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza, HBV and HIV.