Vaccine Branch
Mission
Cancer and HIV are both chronic diseases that suppress and evade the immune system. By combining expertise in both cancer and retroviral vaccines, the Vaccine Branch aims to promote cross fertilization of ideas and progress in both areas in a unique way.
Overview
The Vaccine Branch conducts a program of clinical and laboratory research designed to 1) elucidate basic mechanisms of immune response and molecular virology and 2) apply these to the design and development of vaccines and immunotherapy for the prevention and treatment of cancer and AIDS, as well as viruses that cause cancer. In particular, the Branch carries out studies on 1) the mechanisms of T lymphocyte activation and regulation, 2) cancer immunosurveillance, 3) mucosal immunity, 4) retroviral molecular biology and pathogenesis (including transcriptional and posttranscriptional regulation of retroviruses involved in causing cancer or AIDS), 5) regulation of cellular gene expression, and 6) immune responses to retroviruses, and 7) strategies for rational vaccine design and utilizes these findings to design novel vaccines for cancer, HIV, and cancer- and AIDS-associated viruses. The Branch also carries out clinical trials of vaccines for treatment of patients with some of these diseases.
 |
Research Team
Jay A. Berzofsky, M.D., Ph.D.
Head, Molecular Immunogenetics and Vaccine Research Section
Vaccine Branch
Dr. Berzofsky was appointed chief of the new Vaccine Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, in 2003 after having served as chief of the Molecular Immunogenetics and Vaccine Research Section, Metabolism Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, since 1987. He graduated Summa cum Laude from Harvard (1967), and received a Ph.D. and M.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine. After interning at Massachusetts General Hospital, he joined NIH in 1974. Dr. Berzofsky's research has focused on antigen processing and presentation by MHC molecules, the structure of antigenic determinants, cytokine and regulatory cell control of T cell function and avidity, and translation to the design of vaccines for AIDS, malaria, cancer, and viruses causing cancer. He has published more than 460 scientific works. Dr. Berzofsky has received a number of awards, including the U.S. Public Health Service Superior Service Award, the 31st Michael Heidelberger Award, the McLaughlin Visiting Professorship, the Australasian Society for Immunology Visiting Lectureship, and the Tadeusz J. Wiktor Memorial Lectureship. He is the past president of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and was elected Distinguished Alumnus of the Year for 2007 by the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He was also elected chair of the Medical Sciences Section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 2007-08. He won the NIH Director's Award and NCI Merit Award in 2008 and a Merit Award in 2011.
Lauren V. Wood, M.D.
Molecular Immunogenetics and Vaccine Research Section
Head, Clinical Trials Team
Staff Clinician
Vaccine Branch
Dr. Wood is a board certified allergist/immunologist and head of the Vaccine Branch Clinical Trials Team. She earned her B.A. in biology from Oberlin College and her M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine. She completed a combined residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine Affiliated Hospitals in Houston, TX, and is board certified in both specialties. Dr. Wood then completed a fellowship in allergy and immunology at NIAID and spent two years in the laboratory of Dr. Anthony Fauci investigating HIV-specific cellular and humoral immune responses. Following her fellowship, she worked for one year with Drs. Henry Masur and H. Clifford Lane in the NIAID HIV/AIDS Clinical Research Program before being recruited to NCI in 1992 by Dr. Philip Pizzo. As a member of the senior staff of the Pediatric HIV Working Group—initially under Dr. Pizzo and subsequently under Dr. Robert Yarchoan—her clinical research focused on the investigation of antiretroviral agents and immune-based therapies in HIV-infected children, adolescents, and young adults, including the initial studies of lamivudine (3TC) and ritonavir that led to FDA approval for their use in children. Dr. Wood also conducted studies of recombinant IL-2, HIV therapeutic vaccines, and adherence to antiretroviral treatment and investigated the infectious, malignant, and psychosocial complications of pediatric HIV disease in collaboration with other NCI colleagues. In 2005, Dr. Wood joined the Vaccine Branch and was charged with developing a clinical translational research program, which she now heads.
Dr. Wood is an assistant professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and is a captain in the U.S. Public Health Service. She has served on multiple FDA, White House, and other interagency advisory, review, and data safety monitoring committees. Her work has been published, and she has been invited to present her work at national and international scientific meetings.
Research Staff
Brenda Roberson, R.N., O.C.N.
Nurse Specialist, Research
Clinical Trials Coordinator, Vaccine Branch
Brenda Roberson started her nursing career in 1972 as an LPN. She completed her registered nursing degree at Frederick Community College and obtained her oncology nursing certification in 1998. She has more than 20 years of experience in the oncology field. Brenda worked as an inpatient oncology nurse, charge nurse, and oncology clinical educator prior to accepting the position of clinical nurse manager of Frederick Memorial Healthcare System’s Oncology Department, overseeing the inpatient and the outpatient intravenous/chemotherapy center. Brenda worked at the Greenebaum Cancer Center at the University of Maryland as a Research Hematology/Oncology Transplant Nurse. She also worked at Shady Grove Adventist Hospital on the medical surgical oncology unit. She has extensive clinical and managerial nursing experience in the oncology setting. Brenda came to the NIH Clinical Center in January 2004, as a senior clinical research and transplant nurse. In 2006, she joined the NCI Vaccine Branch as Nurse Specialist, Research. She has been instrumental in the development and implementation of the Vaccine Branch Clinical Research program and is an active member of the Oncology Nursing Society.
Back to Top
