Boritz Research Group

The Virus Persistence and Dynamics Section (VPDS) works to understand the persistence of HIV and other viruses in vivo by developing and applying advanced sequencing and other technologies.

Eli Boritz, M.D., Ph.D.

Chief, Virus Persistence and Dynamics Section (VPDS)

Contact: For contact information, search the NIH Enterprise Directory.

Specialty(s): Infectious Disease, Internal Medicine
Provides direct clinical care to patients at NIH Clinical Center

Education:

M.D., Ph.D., University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver, CO

Dr. Boritz began his HIV research career in the mid-1990s as a summer student in the laboratory of Dr. John K. Rose. An interest in fundamental and translational studies of host-virus interactions then led him to pursue combined M.D./Ph.D. training at University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver. He completed his Ph.D. in the Immunology Program studying HIV-specific CD4 T-cell responses...

Learn more about Eli Boritz, M.D., Ph.D.

Eli Boritz, M.D., Ph.D.

 ​Mohammad M. Abu-Laban, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Bioengineering, Pennsylvania State University

M.Sc., Biological & Agricultural Engineering, Louisiana State University

B.Sc., Chemical Engineering, Louisiana State University

Languages Spoken: Arabic

Dr. Abu-Laban investigates HIV-latently infected cells using high throughput cytometry-based staining and sorting, and identifies unique chromatin states in infected cells. His research interests include immune responses to acute HIV infection, including B cell and follicular helper T cell interactions, and phenotyping latent and productive infection in patient samples. 

Learn more about  ​Mohammad M. Abu-Laban, Ph.D.

Frida Belinky, Ph.D.

Staff Scientist

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Education:

Ph.D., Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

M.Sc., Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel

B.Sc., Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv, Israel

Languages Spoken: Hebrew, Russian

Dr. Belinky’s research focuses on intra-Host HIV evolution and the identification of positive selection in the env gene under different conditions. Her research interests include bioinformatics methods focusing on molecular evolution, phylogenetics, and sequence analyses.

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 Ayushman Dobhal, M.D.

Fellow

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Education:

M.D., Smolensk State Medical Academy, Russia

Residency training, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi

Languages Spoken: Hindi, Russian

Dr. Dobhal’s primary research interests include understanding the viral aspects of the HIV-1 bnAb induction paradigm, fundamental and translational nuances of host-virus interaction, evolutionary dynamics and persistence of viruses in infectious diseases. Acute respiratory infections due to human coronaviruses (HCoVs) have been identified in children and adults from 2010 to 2020 as part of the...

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Vanessa Isabel Guerra Canedo, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Biology, Simon Fraser University

M.Sc., Ecology, Evolution and Conservation, San Francisco State University

B.S., Biology, Humboldt State University

Languages Spoken: Spanish

Dr. Guerra Canedo is an evolutionary and computational biologist. Her primary research focuses on the coevolution of rapidly evolving genes. She examines the evolution of viruses, such as avian influenza (H5N1), to better understand the evolutionary process of newly emerged mutations that are able to confer susceptibility and resistance to antiviral drugs.  

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Sung Hee Ko, Ph.D.

Research Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea

M.S., Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), South Korea

B.S., Pusan National University, South Korea

Languages Spoken: Korean

Dr. Ko’s research interests are the study of virus genetic diversity and its evolution using single genome sequencing. He has developed a high-throughput and high-accuracy single genome sequencing strategy by combining unique molecular identifiers and long-read sequencing technology. The method has been applied to studies of HIV dynamics under bNAb treatment and intra-individual SARS-CoV-2...

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 Maggie Lucas, B.S.

Postbaccalaureate Fellow

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Education:

B.S., Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Maggie Lucas’s research project involves using high-throughput single genome amplification and sequencing to investigate within-host diversity and evolution of SARS-CoV-2. Her research interests include topics related to infectious disease, immunology, and vaccine development.

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Prakriti Mudvari, Ph.D.

Research Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Molecular Medicine, George Washington University

M.S., Genomics and Bioinformatics, George Washington University

B.S., Biology, Bowling Green State University

Languages Spoken: Nepali

Dr. Mudvari’s research interests are the application of novel genomics-based technologies to understand the biology and host cellular response to HIV and other emerging pathogens. Her research projects characterize the transcriptome of HIV infected CD4 T cells in patients undergoing long term antiretroviral therapy. 

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Liliana Pérez Rodríguez, Ph.D.

Staff Scientist

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Education:

Ph.D., Rutgers University

B.S., University of Puerto Rico

Languages Spoken: Spanish

Dr. Pérez Rodríguez’s research focuses on understanding immunological markers, metabolic states and mechanisms that allow HIV to persist in HIV-positive individuals undergoing antiretroviral therapy by performing single-copy sequence analysis, virus phylogenetic studies and high-throughput gene expression analysis of HIV-positive individuals.

Learn more about Liliana Pérez Rodríguez, Ph.D.

Pierce E. Radecki, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Davis 
B.S., Bioengineering, University of Maryland 

Dr. Radecki is a computational biologist with interests in genomic data mining, algorithm development, evolutionary biology, and translational bioengineering. He contributed to research projects ranging from medical virology to applied machine learning with big genomic data. His doctoral research studied methods to better predict and understand the functional nature of RNA structures  in vivo...

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Portrait of Pierce E. Radecki Ph.D.

Hannah Shepard, B.S.

Postbaccalaureate Fellow

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Education:

B.S., Biology, Global Health, Duke University 

Languages Spoken: Spanish

Hannah Shephard’s research project focuses on utilizing a digital PCR system to quantify SARS-CoV-2 gRNA and sgRNAs. She also supports ongoing VPDS HIV reservoir investigation and collaborative studies. She is passionate about research and its potential to improve the burden of infectious disease for populations around the world.

Learn more about Hannah Shepard, B.S.

Marc William Theberge Jr., B.S.

Postbaccalaureate Fellow

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Education:

B.S., Cell and Molecular Biology, Tulane University

Marc Theberge is involved in method development as well as in vitro studies focused on improving our understanding of the HIV reservoir. His research interests revolve around human immunology, virology, and chronic illness.

Learn more about Marc William Theberge Jr., B.S.

Portrait of Marc William Theberge, Jr., B.S.

Former Research Group Members

Ellie Bayat-Mokhtari, Ph.D., Postdoc Fellow 6/2020-5/2021, current Data Scientist, Amazon 

Aisha Aljanahi, Ph.D., Postdoc Fellow 10/2020-6/2021, current Data Scientist, Diamond Age Data Science 

Divya Kilam, Ph.D., Postdoc Fellow 10/2018-4/2020, current Data Scientist, CareDx, Inc. 

Wiriya Rutvisuttinunt, Scientist 9/2019-3/2020, current Program Officer, NIAID 

Si Young Lee, Ph.D., Scientist 6/2018-6/2020, current Scientist, National Cancer Institute 

Max Lee, B.A., Postbaccalaureate Fellow 5/2019-6/2021, current Ph.D. candidate, Tufts University 

Samuel Smith, B.S., Postbaccalaureate Fellow 8/2018-6/2020, current MSI, George Washington University 

Daniel Crespo-Vélez, B.S., Postbaccalaureate Fellow 10/2017-6/2019, current MSIII, U. of Puerto Rico 

Saami Zakaria, B.S., Postbaccalaureate Fellow 7/2017-6/2018, current MSIV, Thomas Jefferson U. 

Mehdi Hamouda, B.S., Postbaccalaureate Fellow 7/2016-6/2017, current Ph.D. Candidate, NIH-OxCam 

Alexander Le, B.S., Postbaccalaureate Fellow 7/2016-6/2017, current MSIV, SUNY-Downstate 

Gideon Wolf, B.A., Summer Intern 2017, current M.D./Ph.D. Candidate, UMD Medical School 

Lisa Mayer, Emerging Leaders in Data Science (ELDS) Rotating Fellow 11/2021-2/2022 

Sydney Foote, Emerging Leaders in Data Science (ELDS) Rotating Fellow 10/2019-1/2020 

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