Keynote: Afam A. Okoye, PhD
Enhancing CD8+ T cells to facilitate the immune intercept of rebounding HIV/SIV reservoirs
Afam A. Okoye, PhD
Professor, Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute
Division of Pathobiology & Immunology, Oregon National Primate Research Center
Department of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, School of Medicine
Oregon Health & Science University
Dr. Afam Okoye is a Professor at the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute and the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, Oregon Health & Science University. He is also a Core Scientist in the Division of Pathobiology and Immunology at the Oregon National Primate Research Center. His lab focuses on using nonhuman primate models to understand the barriers to achieving a cure for HIV and to develop therapeutic interventions to curtail the need for lifelong ART in people living with HIV. As part of this effort, they are evaluating whether therapeutic vaccines can be used to enhance anti-viral immunity to achieve durable remission from viral replication after ART cessation.
ESI Presentation: Gina Borgo, PhD
Rhesus macaques with lower plasma viral load set points after analytical treatment interruption have CD8+ T cells with higher baseline and early in vivo proliferative response
Gina Borgo, PhD
Postdoctoral Scholar
Division of Experimental Medicine
University of California, San Francisco
Gina is a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Rachel Rutishauser’s lab at UCSF. Her work focuses on utilizing the rhesus macaque/SIV model to understand what qualities of anti-viral CD8+ T cell responses contribute to control of viral replication during analytical treatment interruption. She received her PhD in Infectious Diseases and Immunity from UC Berkeley, where she worked in Dr. Matt Welch’s lab to describe the role of a bacterial phospholipase in the intracellular life cycle of spotted fever group Rickettsia. Previously, she worked in Dr. Jane Koehler’s lab at UCSF investigating the transcriptional regulation utilized by Bartonella quintana to transition from the body louse to human host. Gina is passionate about scientific communication and training the next generation of scientists. In the future, she hopes to apply her research experience to help develop accessible therapeutics for challenging pathogens.