Malaria and HIV-1 are two of the most devastating and ongoing health burdens, particularly in the developing world. Protective vaccines against these pathogens remain elusive, in part because of our inability to induce by vaccination high-neutralizing antibody titers against conserved antigenic sites. We use epitope-selective, structure-based protein design strategies to generate novel immunogens that elicit antibodies blocking the function of critical malaria and HIV-1 proteins.

Selected publications:

1. Antihomotypic affinity maturation improves human B cell responses against a repetitive epitope.
   Imkeller K, Scally SW, Bosch A, Martí GP, Costa G, Triller G, Murugan R, Renna V, Jumaa H, Kremsner PG, Sim BKL, Hoffman SL, Mordmüller B, Levashina E, Julien JP, Wardemann H.
   Science. 2018 Jun 22; 360(6395): 1358-1362. doi: 10.1126/science.aar5304. First Release 2018 Jun 7.
2. Rare PfCSP C-terminal antibodies induced by live sporozoite vaccination are ineffective against malaria infection.
   Scally SW, Murugan R, Bosch A, Triller G, Costa G, Mordmüller B, Kremsner PG, Sim BKL, Hoffman SL, Levashina EA, Wardemann H, Julien JP. J
   Exp Med. 2018 Jan 2; 215(1): 63–75. doi: 10.1084/jem.20170869.
3. Natural Parasite Exposure Induces Protective Human Anti-Malarial Antibodies.
   Triller G, Scally SW, Costa G, Pissarev M, Kreschel C, Bosch A, Marois E, Sack BK, Murugan R, Salman AM, Janse CJ, Khan SM, Kappe SHI, Adegnika AA, Mordmüller B, Levashina EA, Julien JP, Wardemann H.
   Immunity. 2017 Dec 19; 47(6):1197-1209.e10. doi: 10.1016/j.immuni.2017.11.007.
4. Molecular definition of multiple sites of antibody inhibition of malaria transmission-blocking vaccine antigen Pfs25.
   Scally SW, McLeod B, Bosch A, Miura K, Liang Q, Carroll S, Reponen S, Nguyen N, Giladi E, Rämisch S, Yusibov V, Bradley A, Lemiale F, Schief WR, Emerling D, Kellam P, King CR, Julien JP.
   Nat Commun. 2017 Nov 16; 8:1568. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01924-3.
5. Crystal structure of a soluble cleaved HIV-1 envelope trimer.
   Julien JP, Cupo A, Sok D, Stanfield RL, Lyumkis D, Deller MC, Klasse PJ, Burton DR, Sanders RW, Moore JP, Ward AB, Wilson IA.
   Science. 2013 Dec 20;342(6165):1477-83. doi: 10.1126/science.1245625. Epub 2013 Oct 31. PMID:24179159