Young Kashmir scientist behind discovery of fast-acting HIV antibodies

Raiees Andrabi (2nd from left) pictured along with other authors of the study. Photography By Cindy Brauer/ The Scripps Research Institute
Raiees Andrabi (2nd from left) pictured along with other authors of the study. Photography By Cindy Brauer/ The Scripps Research Institute

In what could turn out to be a game changer in the fight against AIDS, a team of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have made a vital progress in the field of antibody-based HIV vaccine development, a study has shown.

Kashmir-born Raiees Andrabi is the first author of a study published on Nov 17 as the cover article of the journal Immunity that describes four prototype antibodies that target a specific weak spot on the virus.

With the help of these antibodies, the researchers mimicked the molecular structure of a protein on HIV when designing their own potential HIV vaccine candidate.

“This study is an example of how we can learn from natural infection and translate that information into vaccine development,” said TSRI Research Associate Raiees Andrabi, as reported by eurekaalert. Org. “This is an important advance in the field of antibody-based HIV vaccine development.”

In addition to Andrabi, Dennis Burton was the senior author of the study “Identification of Common Features in Prototype Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies to HIV Envelope V2 Apex to Facilitate Vaccine Design.”

James E. Voss, Chi-Hui Liang, Bryan Briney, Laura E. McCoy of TSRI, IAVI and CHAVI-ID; Pascal Poignard of TSRI and IAVI; and Chung-Yi Wu and Chi-Huey Wong of the Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica and TSRI were the other authors.

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