The Kimpel Lab | Infection Immunology and Vaccine Research

Live-attenuated vaccines have proven to be highly protective and cost-effective. For diseases, for which safe live-attenuated vaccines cannot be generated, e.g. HIV, Malaria, HCV, cancer, viral vector vaccines are a promising alternative. However, viral vector vaccines generally induce neutralizing antibodies to the vector itself and thus loose efficacy upon repeated application. Therefore, viral vector vaccine regimens usually involve serial administration of different viral vector vaccines and/or combinations with a protein or a DNA vaccine. We have previously described the first viral vector vaccine that does not induce neutralizing antibodies to the viral vector in mouse models, VSV-GP. VSV-GP is the vesicular stomatitis virus pseudotyped with the glycoprotein GP of an arenavirus (LCMV).

We are currently working on the development of VSV-GP based vaccines against infectious disease such as HIV. Additionally, we are interested in understanding the mechanisms of immune responses after immunization with viral vector vaccines.