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Profile

Christina Gavegnano

  • Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
    Assistant Professor
Head shot of Christina Gavegnano

Overview

The Gavegnano Group studies inflammation as it relates to viral pathogenesis, with a specific focus on drug discovery and immunomodulation with small molecule inhibitors, including Jak inhibitors. Our group was the first to demonstrate a published antiviral and anti-HIV effect with the Jak inhibitor class of agents, including Ruxolitinib and Baricitinib. Our work has streamlined multiple clinical studies worldwide for HIV (A5336 AIDS Clinical Trial sponsored Phase 2a study) and for COVID-19 (ACTT2 and ACTT4 for COVID, and other phase 3 studies). This work led to Emergency Use Approval status from the FDA for baricitinib in November 2020 for treatment of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 requiring oxygen. Our team continues to pursue mechanistic studies with Jak inhibitors to bolster additional understanding about how this class of agents facilitate antiviral effects by modulation of inflammation.

Our group also pursues drug discovery for novel immunomodulators for viral infections in high throughput screening platforms, and simultaneous phenotypic studies for lead candidate evaluation in an in vitro and ex vivo setting. Our team focuses on mechanistic virological studies to bolster understanding of the dynamics between viruses and host cells, including HIV. The goal of the group is a multi-platform foundation that dovetails basic science drug discovery, pharmacology, mechanistic studies, and translational application in the virology space, towards human studies and eventual IND status for candidate agents.

Academic Appointment

  • AIDS Clinical Trial Group Neurology Scientific Working Group Member, ACTG
  • Assistant Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine/Pharmacology and Chemical Biology, Emory University School of Medicine

Education

Degrees

  • PhD, Pharmacology from Emory University
  • MS, Immunology from University of Florida

Research

Publications

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