Faculty Directory
Rafi Ahmed, PhD
Vaccine Center Director
Emory Vaccine Center
Professor
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Emory University School of Medicine
Eminent Scholar
Georgia Research Alliance
Investigator
Emory Center for AIDS Research
EMAIL: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
PHONE: 404-727-4700
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Research
Immunology and pathogenesis of chronic viral infections; immunological memory and vaccine development.
The mechanism of viral persistence remains a major unresolved problem and the goal of our lab is to understand how viruses evade or suppress the immune response and persist in vivo. We are using two natural models of viral persistence:
- Infection of mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus to study the interaction between the virus and the immune system of its natural host and to define conditions that lead to viral clearance or persistence.
- Infection of rabbits with Shope papillomavirus allows examination of the immune response during various stages of neoplasia, papilloma development, spontaneous regression, and progression to carcinoma.
Our approach is to combine the disciplines of virology and immunology to attain a better understanding of virus vs. host interaction.