Tri-I MD-PhD Student, Alexandru Barbulescu, Recieves NIH F30 Research Grant

Fifth year Tri-Institutional MD-PhD student Alexandru Barbulescu has been awarded an F30 research grant from the National Institutes of Health.

This award will support Mr. Babulescu's research in the Victoria Lab at The Rockefeller University on his project Investigating the Effect of Antibody Mediated Feedback on B Cell Clonal Selection, which, he explains, "will provide insight into a mode of regulation of adaptive immunity that is important for improved vaccination design by

1. [gaining] mechanistic insight into the regulatory role immunoglobulin plays in humoral responses and
2. [evaluating] the implications of antibody mediated feedback on B cell clonal selection."

Alexandru gives the fuller context for his project as "High affinity antibody titers elicited by infection or vaccination form the basis for protection against reinfection. However, preexisting antigen-specific titers are also associated with diminished secondary B cell responses to the same antigen. This concept, termed antibody mediated feedback, remains poorly defined at the mechanistic level. Elucidation of the mechanisms and outcomes of antibody feedback on B cell clonal selection is required to develop immunization strategies that target conserved epitopes on repeatedly encountered evolving pathogens."

Alexandru Barbulescu