Koup Research Group

The mission of the Immunology Laboratory (IML) is to investigate novel aspects of cellular immune responses to pathogens in support of the rational development of a vaccine against HIV and other lethal human viral pathogens.

Richard Koup, M.D.

Deputy Director, Vaccine Research Center
Chief, Immunology Laboratory and Immunology Section
Acting Chief, Vaccine Immunology Program
Acting Head, Tissue Analysis Core

Contact: rkoup@mail.nih.gov

Education:

M.D., 1982, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD
M.S., 1979, University of Connecticut​, Stamford, CT
B.S., 1978, University of Connecticut​, Stamford, CT

Dr. Koup received his B.S. in biophysics in 1978 and his M.S. in biochemistry in 1979 from the University of Connecticut​. He attended Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he obtained his M.D. in 1982. Dr. Koup served an internship and residency in internal medicine with the Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University Medical School, Providence, Rhode Island, from 1982 to 1985.

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Richard A. Koup, M.D.

David Ambrozak, M.S.

Clinical Research Scientist

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Education:

M.S., Medical and Research Technology, University of Maryland at Baltimore
B.S., Medical Technology, University of Texas Medical Branch of Galveston

David Ambrozak works with the Flow Cytometry Core as a flow cytometry specialist and the head of the sorting department. He maintains sorters and performs cell sorts for all of the VRC. He also helps users with panel design and gating strategies to optimally isolate populations of interest. The team sorts a wide range of cell types and from both human and animal samples.

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Kristin Boswell, Ph.D.

Staff Scientist

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Education:

Ph.D., University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.S., Virginia Tech University

Dr. Boswell’s current research focus is the characterization of SARS-CoV-2 T cell responses in vaccinated and convalescent individuals. This work includes the characterization SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells in longitudinal samples using polychromatic flow cytometry, the identification of T cell epitopes by ELISpot, and T cell receptor (TCR) sequencing and transcriptomic analysis of epitope-specific T...

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Lauren Bowman, B.S.

Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow

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Education:

B.S., Randolph-Macon College

Lauren Bowman currently works to identify SARS-CoV-2 T cell epitopes in vaccinated and recovering individuals and establish transgenic T cell lines and in vitro assays to better understand SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells. Her work aims to address how T cells recognize individual epitopes, determine their HLA restriction, and identify T cells that cross-react with other human coronaviruses.

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Joseph P. Casazza, M.D., Ph.D.

Staff Clinician

Contact: jcasazza@mail.nih.gov

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

Education:

Ph.D., Biochemistry, Iowa State University
M.D., Internal Medicine, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

Dr. Casazza received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Iowa State University in 1978 and then did a Post-doc at the National Institutes on Alcohol and Alcoholism studying near equilibrium thermodynamics and intermediary metabolism. At the age of 40, he started medical school in 1991 at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center where he did his internship and residency in Internal Medicine...

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Joseph P. Casazza, M.D., Ph.D.

Joana Dias, Ph.D.

Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Karolinska Institute, Sweden

Dr. Dias studies HIV therapeutic strategies in preclinical non-human primate (NHP) models. Her research focuses on understanding the virological and immunological effects of broadly neutralizing antibodies administered in the acute phase of simian HIV (SHIV) infection. Dr. Dias has also identified and characterized the Fiebig-equivalent stages of SHIV infection in rhesus macaques to facilitate...

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Christopher Gonelli, Ph.D.

Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., B.S., University of Melbourne, Australia

Dr. Gonelli’s research focuses on determining vaccination strategies to induce the generation of protective immune responses against HIV infection. He has a particular emphasis on the use of immune complexes, a combination of soluble antigens and antibodies that can better interact with and activate cells of the immune system that soluble antigen alone, as vaccine immunogens. These immune complex...

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Prathyusha Kandala, B.S.

Postbaccalaureate Trainee

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Education:

B.S., Emory University

Prathyusha Kandala has found ACH2 cells can be divided into two phenotypic groups: those that express HIV envelope on their surface before activation and those that do not. She is using single cell proviral DNA sequencing and cellular transcriptome analysis to assess the evolution of intracellular proviral DNAs and the effect of superinfection on cellular transcriptome compared to ACH2 cells that...

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Rodrigo Matus-Nicodemos , Ph.D.

Predoctoral Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., 2022, John Hopkins University
B.A., M.S., Rutgers University

Rodrigo Matus-Nicodemos’s research addresses how the reservoir of HIV-infected cells is established prior to antiretroviral therapy in HIV+ individuals. His work has found that HIV can directly infect resting memory CD4 T cells, the primary reservoir for HIV under therapy. HIV can infect resting memory CD4 T cells primarily because these cells do have enough levels of dNTPs for HIV reverse...

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Jakob Samsel, Ph.D.

Predoctoral Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., 2022, George Washington University
B.S., University of Tennessee

Jakob Samsel’s research focuses on antibody responses to HIV/SHIV in rhesus macaque models. He optimized and characterized a method of macaque B cell immortalization for antibody discovery and applied that technology to characterize neutralizing antibody responses in SHIV infected animals. He has also isolated antibodies from animals vaccinated with a germline-bNAb-targeting vaccine, GT1.1, to...

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Cody Stein, B.S.

Postbaccalaureate Trainee

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Education:

B.S., University of Colorado at Colorado Springs

Cody Stein investigates FC-functions of HIV neutralizing monoclonal antibodies with an emphasis on understanding how enhancing complement activation affects viral control and clearance. He currently utilizes in vitro systems to better understand how antibodies with mutations that enhance complement activation and deposition affect lysis of HIV viral particles and HIV-infected cells.

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