Principal Investigator
Rafick Pierre Sekaly, PhD
Professor & Vice-Chair of Translational Medicine
Director of Pathology Advanced Translational Research Unit
Emory Vaccine Center
Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
View Faculty Profile | Publications
Rafick Sekaly, obtained a PhD in Biochemistry, from the University of Lausanne and the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, Switzerland.
He comes to Emory from Case Western Reserve University, where he was Richard J. Fasenmyer Professor of Immunopathogenesis, co-director of the Center of Systems Immunology, and co-leader of Case Western’s COVID-19 task force.
Sekaly is one of the world’s leading researchers focused on a cure for HIV/AIDS and has led fundamental work on the persistence of the HIV reservoir and progression of HIV infection. For clinical trials, he has partnered with companies using gene therapy to make immune cells resistant to HIV. Sekaly’s lab has also pioneered the use of comprehensive systems approaches to study immune memory and immune responses to vaccines.
From 2009 to 2014, Sekaly was scientific director of the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute in Florida and was previously based at the University of Montreal and McGill.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Sekaly’s focus on HIV disease immune pathogenesis, immune virology, and immunotherapies has generated pioneering findings that highlight the impact of HIV infection on thymic output, T cell memory, mechanisms of CD4 and CD8 T cell dysfunction, and on innate immunity and mechanisms of HIV persistence. He has also pioneered the use of transcriptomics and bioinformatics to identify predictors/correlates of immune responses that lead to protection from viral infections, including HIV, SIV and flaviviruses, protection from disease progression and successful immune interventions including adjuvants, licensed preventative and therapeutic vaccines.
He is the principal investigator on numerous grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Gilead Sciences Incorporation, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corporation, and more. His research group has been continuously funded since 1988 by federal and nonfederal grants.
Dr. Sekaly’s efforts have resulted in novel approaches to cancer and HIV vaccines and have led to more than 357 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and 25 patents in Adjuvants, PD-1 and vaccine vectors.
Sekaly Lab Members
Diego A. Diaz-Dinamarca, PhD
Post Doctoral Fellow
Pathology Advanced Translational Research Unit
Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Diego obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaíso, Chile (2016). During his undergraduate, he studied the immunogenicity of antigens against Group B Streptococcus (GBS) and metapneumovirus (hMPV). Later, he investigated the innate and adaptive immune response of an immunogenic protein from GBS in antigen presenting cells.
During his Ph.D. in the University of Chile (2023), Diego studied the role of new protein-based adjuvants for vaccines as immunomodulators. Also, as a researcher in Chile, he wrote several awarded projects related to the evaluation of the immune response of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 in adult and pediatric population, and the development of new vaccine adjuvant using a TLR4 protein agonist.
Dr. Diaz-Dinamarca joined the Sekaly Lab/PATRU in 2024 to contribute to knowledge improving vaccines and immunotherapies to combat virus infection diseases.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Diego Diaz will study the training immunity mechanisms involved in immunomodulators and vaccine adjuvants to prevent viral infections as HIV and SARS-CoV-2, combining methods from bioinformatics with experimentally research.
Obaiah Dirasantha, PhD
Instructor
Pathology Advanced Translational Research Unit
Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Obaiah Dirasantha obtained his PhD in Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology in 2024 from the University of Colorado at Boulder. The focus of his PhD research was to understand the genetic factors contributing to resistance against immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs/HIVs) in monkeys.
After completing his BTech degree in Biotechnology, in 2009, from the Indian Institute of Technology – Guwahati, India, he completed research in a Molecular Systems Immunology lab at Turku Center for Biotechnology, Finland for 3 years, where he identified the role of a transcriptional repressor (HIC1) that contributes to the suppressive function of human-induced Regulatory T Cells. In 2016, he joined the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, where he studied the role of catalytic antibodies in the neutralization of misfolded proteins in Alzheimer's disease and HIV resistance to the antibodies. In 2018, he joined the University of Colorado at Boulder and led various projects aimed at understanding and overcoming the natural resistance to immunodeficiency viruses (SIVs/HIVs) in monkeys.
He joined Dr. Sekaly’s Lab in PATRU at Emory University in April 2024
RESEARCH INTERESTS
In Dr. Sekaly’s Lab, Obaiah’s primary focus is to contribute to gene therapy projects aimed at making autologous CCR5-modified stem-cell-like subsets of T cells (TSCM) resistant to HIV. He will be developing and applying relevant emerging molecular techniques for the development of new lines of research in the field of human experimental immunology with an ultimate goal to advance immunotherapies for HIV/AIDS. Gene therapy holds promise for treating a wide range of genetic disorders, acquired diseases, and even certain types of cancer by delivering functional genes or modifying existing ones to correct underlying genetic abnormalities. His long-term goal is to harness the power of gene therapy for HIV/AIDS eradication through non-invasive immunotherapies. By relentlessly pursuing innovation and collaboration, he aims to contribute to paving the way for a world where HIV/AIDS is a thing of the past.
Tamara Garcia
Visiting Fellow
Pathology Advanced Translational Research Unit
Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Tamara's interests have focused on understanding immune responses during disease, in the context of the anti-tumoral research and infectious diseases. During her Ph.D. training, she identified a specific gene-expression signature including prognostic and predictive biomarkers (CXCR4 and CD32) in peripheral blood leukocytes (T/B lymphocytes and monocyte population) of immunotherapy treated melanoma patients. Currently, Tamara's research is focused on performing a systematic and comprehensive analysis of human host determinants to elucidate their contribution to severe infectious diseases, such as influenza and emerging viruses, including the recently identified SARS-CoV-2. She and colleagues are conducting studies to evaluate clinical parameters, innate and adaptive immune responses, and genetic polymorphisms, to provide valuable information for the implementation of treatments and immunotherapies for the general population.
Muhammad Bilal Latif, DVM, PhD
Visiting Fellow, Assistant Academic Research Scientist
Pathology Advanced Translational Research Unit
Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Dr. Bilal obtained DVM from the University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Lahore, Pakistan. He then moved to Sweden to obtain MS in Molecular Biology with a major in Biotechnology. For his career in research, he went on to earn a Ph.D. in Veterinary Sciences (Virology-Immunology) from the University of Liege, Belgium. During his Ph.D. with Dr. Laurent Gillet, he studied the role of the ORF63 gene of MuHV-4 in virus entry, exit, and immune evasion. He discovered that the ORF63 is required during entry for the transport of MuHV-4 capsids from the cell membrane to the nucleus of the host cell. For his postdoctoral training, he joined the laboratory of Prof. Ganes C. Sen at Lerner Research Institute, Cleveland Clinic. There, he studied the relative contribution of cGAS-STING and TLR3 pathways in attenuation of HSV-1 infection and discovered that they contribute differently in different cells. He joined the lab of Prof. Rafick-Pierre Sekaly in March 2020.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Dr. Bilal’s current research interests include; studying the molecular mechanisms involved in HIV reservoir maintenance, studying the innate immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and developing the antiviral therapies.
Ana Carolina Santana, PhD
Manager of Projects
Pathology Advanced Translational Research Unit
Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine
Ana Carolina obtained a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Sciences from the Federal University of Triangulo Mineiro, Brazil (2012), and a M.S. (2014) and Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of Sao Paulo – USP, Brazil (2019).
During her Masters, Ana Carolina was able to produce and to express active mouse mast cell chymases in Pichia pastoris. During her Ph.D., Ana Carolina studied the role of SAMSN1 protein in mast cells. Working with immortalized and primary culture mast cells, and performing cell biology assays, she explored the role of SAMSN1 in mast cell migration and activation. Her studies confirmed that SAMSN1 protein is important to mast cell migration.
After her Ph.D., in 2019, Ana Carolina joined as an Assistant Professor at Health and Wellness Sciences School – Anhembi Morumbi University (UAM) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. At UAM, Ana Carolina taught classes in several Health courses, in the following major courses, as Anatomy, Histology, Physiology, Pathology, Oncotic Cervical Cytology, Biomedical Sciences Practices, Biomedical Sciences Undergraduate Thesis, and Biomedical Sciences Supervised Internship.
Ana Carolina joined Sekaly Lab/PATRU in March 2022 to perform cell and tissue analysis during infectious diseases, focusing mainly on transcriptomics and spatial association.
