Teaching
- General Virology (BSCI437)
Graduate Program Affiliations
- BISI-Molecular & Cellular Biology (MOCB)
Research Interests
Dr. Gilad Ofek’s research interests lie in understanding the structural organization of viruses and their recognition and neutralization by molecules of the immune system. Of particular interest are the Ebola and HIV-1 viruses. The Ofek lab employs the tools of structural biology to better understand immunological function and the pathways by which effective, and ineffective, antibody responses develop against these viruses in the context of natural infection and vaccination. Durable, broadly protective immune responses are of special interest, as are mechanisms by which viruses escape immune recognition and neutralization.
A close understanding of neutralizing antibody recognition of viral pathogens also helps to inform the development of vaccines and immunotherapies, an additional interest of the Ofek lab. Vaccines induce the immune system to develop a cascade of immune responses that act to protect an individual host from future infection. A key component of such vaccines is the induction of B cells that encode highly specific neutralizing antibodies that inhibit virus entry into host cells. As such, structural characterization of neutralizing antibodies and their recognition of viral surface glycoproteins (their main targets) provides a high-resolution antigenic map that pinpoints specific regions on the glycoproteins that are susceptible to effective immune attack. Such information provides a template for the rational design of vaccines aimed at inducing B cells that produce antibodies with similar specificities upon inoculation. The pathways by which such B cells develop helps to identify critical junctures in their development that result in virus neutralization.
Education
- Postdoctoral Research, National Institutes of Health, 2006
- Ph.D., Columbia University, 2001
- B.A., University of Chicago, 1993
