Clinical Research Section
Luca Tudor Giurgea, M.D.
Assistant Research Physician
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
Major Areas of Research
- Influenza
- COVID-19
- Vaccine development
Program Description
Dr. Giurgea’s research has focused on improving our understanding of the multifaceted immune response against respiratory viruses, including refining our comprehension of correlates of protection to improve predictive modeling of clinical outcomes. This knowledge is then applied to guide development of more durable and broadly protective next-generation vaccination strategies, with the ultimate goal of achieving universal vaccines. Dr. Giurgea has a particular interest in mucosal immunity and using multi-targeted approaches to counteract the immune escape that inevitably arises in rapidly mutating RNA viruses.
Biography
Education
M.D., 2014, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY
Dr. Giurgea earned his medical degree from the State University of New York (SUNY) Upstate Medical University in 2014 before going on to train in internal medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He came to NIH in 2017 for a clinical fellowship in infectious diseases, where he performed bench research and ran clinical trials, including Phase 1 vaccine trials and influenza challenge trials. He joined the Laboratory of Immunoregulation in 2022 as a staff clinician, where he continues his research on respiratory viruses. He is board certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases and enjoys participating in fellow education by providing lectures and attending the infectious disease consult service.
Selected Publications
- Giurgea LT, Cervantes-Medina A, Walters KA, Scherler K, Han A, Czajkowski LM, Baus HA, Hunsberger S, Klein SL, Kash JC, Taubenberger JK, Memoli MJ. Sex Differences in Influenza: The Challenge Study Experience. J Infect Dis. 2022 Feb 15;225(4):715-722.
- Giurgea LT, Morens DM. Great Expectations of COVID-19 Herd Immunity. mBio. 2022 Feb 22;13(1):e0349521.
- Kalish H, Klumpp-Thomas C, Hunsberger S, Baus HA, Fay MP, Siripong N, Wang J, Hicks J, Mehalko J, Travers J, Drew M, Pauly K, Spathies J, Ngo T, Adusei KM, Karkanitsa M, Croker JA, Li Y, Graubard BI, Czajkowski L, Belliveau O, Chairez C, Snead K, Frank P, Shunmugavel A, Han A, Giurgea LT, Rosas LA, Bean R, Athota R, Cervantes-Medina A, Gouzoulis M, Heffelfinger B, Valenti S, Caldararo R, Kolberg MM, Kelly A, Simon R, Shafiq S, Wall V, Reed S, Ford EW, Lokwani R, Denson JP, Messing S, Michael SG, Gillette W, Kimberly RP, Reis SE, Hall MD, Esposito D, Memoli MJ, Sadtler K. Undiagnosed SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivity During the First Six Months of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States. Sci Transl Med. 2021 Jul 7;13(601):eabh3826.
- Giurgea LT, Park JK, Walters KA, Scherler K, Cervantes-Medina A, Freeman A, Rosas LA, Kash JC, Taubenberger JK, Memoli MJ. The effect of calcium and magnesium on activity, immunogenicity, and efficacy of a recombinant N1/N2 neuraminidase vaccine. NPJ Vaccines. 2021 Apr 6;6(1):48.
- Giurgea LT, Morens DM, Taubenberger JK, Memoli MJ. Influenza Neuraminidase: A Neglected Protein and Its Potential for a Better Influenza Vaccine. Vaccines (Basel). 2020 Jul 23;8(3):409.
- Giurgea LT, Han A, Memoli MJ. Universal coronavirus vaccines: the time to start is now. NPJ Vaccines. 2020 May 28;5(1):43.