UVA Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program

In honor of American Heart Month, the Office of Medical Sciences Outreach and Office of Community Engagement & Health Outcomes are providing UVA team members and trainees (e.g. PhD students), who may not have CPR training, or need a refresher, with a Hands-only CPR course. This event will take place on Wednesday, February 25 from 12:30-2:00PM in the Claude Moore Medical Education Building, room 3110. Space is limited. Lunch will be provided. Scan the QR code to sign up!

NIH Awards $3 Million to Michael Brown, PhD, for Research on Molecular Genetic Basis for NK Cell Protection Against Viral Infection

Michael Brown, PhD, a professor of medicine, nephrology, and of microbiology, immunology and cancer biology and resident member of the Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research, was awarded a $3 million grant from the NIH National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to study how specific natural killer (NK) cell receptors can enhance killing of virus infected cells and deliver antiviral immunity during HIV infection.

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is a virus that attacks the immune system. In most infected persons, HIV destroys immune cells which leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). While HIV infected patients can be effectively treated with antiviral drugs, there is no cure for this disease. Rare HIV infected persons known as ‘elite controllers’ however go on with their lives without ever developing AIDS and without medical intervention. Prior studies have shown that these “elite controllers” share a distinctive genetic signature which may enhance NK killing of HIV infected immune cells, though the basis for this effect remains elusive.

Dr. Brown and two former PhD students, Jack Cronk and Awndre Gamache, uncovered a clue to better understanding how NK cells may protect against HIV. While searching for mouse genetic factors that could increase protection against viral infection, two NK cell receptors, one inhibitory and the other activating, were discovered and shown to work together in a paired fashion to enhance NK killing of virus infected cells.

Results from these studies will help to define the molecular mechanisms driving paired receptor NK cell virus control, to delineate the impact of NK receptor polymorphism and will lay the groundwork for developing next generation antiviral therapies or vaccines to enhance immune protection against viral infection.

Key collaborators on this project include UVA School of Medicine faculty Stefan Bekiranov, PhD, Sepideh Dolatshahi, PhD, Marie-Louis Hammarskjöld, PhD, Jennie Ma, PhD, Coleen McNamara, MD, and Suna Onengut-Gumuscu, PhD