Area of Research: Basic Immunology/Virology As a basic immunologist, EVC Director Dr. Rafi Ahmed studies immunological memory – the ability of the immune system to “remember” a particular antigen and respond accordingly. Dr. Ahmed and his colleagues have made significant discoveries about how immune memory cells are created and how long they survive; understanding these mechanisms is crucial to the development of vaccines for HIV and other infectious agents. In addition to contributing vitally to vaccine science, Dr. Ahmed’s findings are being applied to research into therapies for the treatment of cancer and the prevention of organ rejection. Dr. Ahmed holds the title of Georgia Research Alliance Scholar in Vaccine Research and is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology in the Emory University School of Medicine. He received his Ph.D. in microbiology from Harvard University. Before coming to Emory in 1995, he was a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine. Research Understanding the intricacies of long-term immune memory is a key to vaccine development. Rafi Ahmed, Director of the Emory Vaccine Center and the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar, is an internationally recognized expert on viral persistence and the immune response to viruses. Dr. Ahmed and his colleagues have made important discoveries about the differences between the two types of immune memory -- humoral and cellular. Dr. Ahmed has shown that plasma cells--the cells that produce antibodies to prevent viral infection (humoral immunity)--live for much longer than previously believed, perhaps even for the entire life of an organism. His laboratory is now trying to uncover the mechanisms that result in the generation of long-lived plasma cells. Dr. Ahmed and his colleagues also have discovered that CD8 T-cells--the cells that are activated by viral antigens--to kill cells that are already infected (cellular immunity), respond at their peak for only a few weeks, after which a small percentage become memory cells capable of mounting a stronger and more rapid immune response if reintroduced to the original virus. Studies to elucidate the molecular basis of T-cell memory are being pursued in the laboratory. The long-term goal of Dr. Ahmed's research is to understand the mechanisms of immunological memory and to use this information to develop new vaccines for the prevention and treatment o f disease.
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