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Barbara K. Felber, Ph.D.

Barbara K. Felber, Ph.D.

  • Center for Cancer Research
  • National Cancer Institute
  • Building 535, Room 209
  • Frederick, MD 21702-1201
  • 301-846-5159
  • 301-693-8140
  • 301-846-7146
  • barbara.felber@nih.gov
Senior Investigator
Vaccine Branch
Head, Human Retrovirus Pathogenesis Section

RESEARCH SUMMARY

Our research focuses on (i) improving nucleic acid-based vaccine technology to make it a rapid, safe, and effective vaccine platform for both as preventive and immunotherapeutic approaches against AIDS, and against cancer and other indications; (ii) studying the gene expression, function and preclinical and clinical applications of selected cytokines and other immunomodulatory molecules relevant for cancer in mouse models and AIDS immunotherapy in  the macaque model; (iii) addressing the problem of viral variability, to maximize immunologic breadth and to induce protective immune responses, against a selection of the most conserved epitopes from different clades of HIV; (iv) understanding the immunological parameters leading to potent protective humoral responses induce by a combination of simultaneous vaccination DNA+Protein vaccination; (v) characterizing adaptive and innate immune responses in SARS-CoV2 vaccinated naive persons and cancer patients.

Areas of Expertise

Publications

Selected Key Publications

Comparative immunogenicity of an mRNA/LNP and a DNA vaccine targeting HIV gag conserved elements in macaques.

Valentin A, Bergamaschi C, Rosati M, Angel M, Burns R, Agarwal M, Gergen J, Petsch B, Oostvogels L, Loeliger E, Chew KW, Deeks SG, Mullins JI, Pavlakis GN, Felber BK.
Front Immunol. 13: 945706, 2022.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Phase I study of single agent NIZ985, a recombinant heterodimeric IL-15 agonist, in adult patients with metastatic or unresectable solid tumors.

Conlon K, Watson DC, Waldmann TA, Valentin A, Bergamaschi C, Felber BK, Peer CJ, Figg WD, Potter EL, Roederer M, McNeel DG, Thompson JA, Gupta S, Leidner R, Wang-Gillam A, Parikh NS, Long D, Kurtulus S, Ho Lee L, Chowdhury NR, Bender F, Pavlakis GN.
J Immunother Cancer. 9(11): e003388, 2021.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Systemic IL-15, IFN-γ, and IP-10/CXCL10 signature associated with effective immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine recipients.

Bergamaschi C, Terpos E, Rosati M, Angel M, Bear J, Stellas D, Karaliota S, Apostolakou F, Bagratuni T, Patseas D, Gumeni S, Trougakos IP, Dimopoulos MA, Felber BK, Pavlakis GN.
Cell Rep. 36(6): 109504, 2021.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Heterodimeric IL-15 delays tumor growth and promotes intratumoral CTL and dendritic cell accumulation by a cytokine network involving XCL1, IFN-γ, CXCL9 and CXCL10.

Bergamaschi C, Pandit H, Nagy BA, Stellas D, Jensen SM, Bear J, Cam M, Valentin A, Fox BA, Felber BK, Pavlakis GN.
J Immunother Cancer. 8(1): e000599, 2020.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Co-immunization of DNA and protein in the same anatomical sites induces superior protective immune responses against SHIV challenge.

Felber BK, Lu Z, Hu X, Valentin A, Rosati M, Remmel CAL, Weiner JA, Carpenter MC, Faircloth K, Stanfield-Oakley S, Williams WB, Shen X, Tomaras GD, LaBranche CC, Montefiori D, Trinh HV, Rao M, Alam MS, Vandergrift NA, Saunders KO, Wang Y, Rountree W, Das J, Alter G, Reed SG, Aye PP, Schiro F, Pahar B, Dufour JP, Veazey RS, Marx PA, Venzon DJ, Shaw GM, Ferrari G, Ackerman ME, Haynes BF, Pavlakis GN.
Cell Rep. 31(6): 107624, 2020.
Full-Text Article
[ Journal Article ]

Job Vacancies

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Team

Jenifer Bear
Biologist
Jenifer Bear, B.A.
Robert Burns
Biologist
Robert T. Burns, B.S.
Terry Jones
Program Specialist
Terry Jones
Rosati image
Scientist
Margherita Rosati, Ph.D.
Sevasti Karaliota
Scientist I (Contr.)
Sevasti Karaliota, Ph.D.
Dimitris Stellas
Staff Scientist
Dimitris Stellas, Ph.D.
Maha Moussa
Research Fellow
Maha Moussa, Ph.D.
Soumya Sengupta
Postdoctoral Visiting Fellow
Soumya Sengupta, Ph.D.

News

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