COVID QUESTIONS | vaccine work
Could you describe your primary vaccine work at Emory?
COLLEEN KELLY: “I’ve been engaged in HIV prevention research for many years. My research was based at the Hope Clinic, so I was well versed in clinical trials for not only HIV vaccines but other infectious disease vaccines. We’ve always had a strong vaccinology presence, so that set us up to be leaders when COVID-19 hit.
RAFI AHMAD: “In addition to Hope Clinic, another entity very involved in all of this has been the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC), co-led by Emory VP of Research David Stephens, who has coordinated many of these vaccine trial evaluations. A lot of the immunology and assays are being done through the IDCRC and the Vaccine Trial Evaluation Unit, which was given to us due to the infrastructure we had already built for human immunology, vaccines, and infectious disease under division director Monica Farley, Jonas Shulman Professor of Medicine.
MEHUL SUTHAR: “My lab primarily focuses on emerging viral infections and we’ve been working in several areas, mainly flaviviruses and, more recently, coronaviruses. We study the immunology and virology of pathogens like West Nile, Zika, and Dengue viruses to understand the antibody responses, the innate immune responses, and what their primary target cells are in vitro (lab) and in vivo (animal models). My lab was one of the first to work with SARS-CoV-2 at Emory because we have a high containment facility.
NADINE ROUPHAEL: “I work at the Hope Clinic, where we conduct clinical trials for vaccines and also investigate successful vaccines so we can facilitate the development of other safe and effective vaccines. We’ve tackled different kinds of pathogens, from emerging infections, to community- and hospital-acquired infections, to bioterrorism. We’ve also investigated the best delivery system for vaccines and worked with Georgia Tech on using dissolvable, thermostable microneedles to deliver influenza vaccines.
SRI EDUPUGANTI: “My main focus at the Hope Clinic has been on HIV vaccine development, although I’ve been involved with work on vaccines for other diseases, such as yellow fever. Emory was well prepared for the COVID vaccine clinical trials, as we have an excellent infrastructure and experienced faculty and staff from previous vaccine trials such as Ebola, Zika, avian influenza, HIV, and other infectious pathogens.
“I knew about pandemics but I’m not sure even I expected the day-to-day human impact of it. Kids out of school for a year? Who could have predicted that?”
“Before it even became a global pandemic, I was aware of [COVID-19]. But I did not realize it would be at our doorstep so quickly.”
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