Robert Seder, M.D., of the Vaccine Research Center, Cellular Immunology Laboratory, directs a research program focused on designing vaccines that confer long-term protection from diseases that require cell-mediated immunity in humans, such as tuberculosis and leishmaniasis.

Studies by Dr. Seder and his research team seek to define the requirements for generating long-term cellular immune responses and to identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms by which different vaccine formulations induce long-term cellular immunity. The lab has recently developed a potential immune correlate of protection (a measurable sign of immunity) for an infection requiring a cell-mediated response; this correlate could be used in future clinical studies to evaluate vaccines against Leishmania infection.