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Nancy Sullivan, Ph.D.
Dr. Nancy Sullivan is Chief of the Biodefense
Research Section in the Laboratory of Immunology at
the Vaccine Research Center. After receiving her Ph.D.
from Harvard University, Dr. Sullivan continued her
research on emerging viruses as a fellow at the University
of Michican in the Department of Internal Medicine,
and then at NIH in the VRC Laboratory of Virology.
Dr. Sullivan’s research interests focus on understanding
the pathogenic mechanisms of, and immune response to,
emerging viruses, with a focus on the hemorrhagic fever
viruses (HFVs), Ebola, Marburg and Lassa. Dr. Sullivan
brings to the VRC a strong background in the study of
viruses beginning with her research on HIV during which
she coauthored the work showing that the b-chemokine
receptors CCR3 and CCR5 are the main coreceptors for
primary HIV-1 isolates. She also made the seminal observations
that primary HIV-1 isolates are resistant to antibody
neutralization and that immune evasion occurs by sequestration
of the chemokine receptor binding site on the HIV envelope.
Since her arrival at NIH in 2000, Dr. Sullivan has
developed an experimental vaccine for Ebola virus that
is now being tested in human clinical trials, and has
also published on the mechanism of Ebola virus cytotoxicity.
Dr. Sullivan and her team are now using the nonhuman
primate model of protective immunity to understand the
specific immune components that can eradicate the virus
during an infection. They are also studying basic mechanisms
of virus entry at the molecular level, and pathogenic
mechanisms in animals. Insights gained from these studies
are used to develop preventive and therapeutic vaccines
as well as other clinical interventions to be employed
in an acute outbreak or in occupational exposures to
HFVs.
Dr. Sullivan received her B.S. in Biology from Merrimack
College, M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Harvard
University, and a Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Virology
from Harvard University. Dr. Sullivan has been invited
to speak at many symposia and is also a guest lecturer
at Georgetown University.
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