Faculty Directory

Rafi Ahmed, PhD

Rafi Ahmed, PhD headshot

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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PubMed

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.


 

Research Center(s)