Dr. Alpert is a scientist who founded Emmune, Inc., to develop eCD4-Ig and adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for treating and preventing HIV infection. Dr. Alpert received his Ph.D. in Virology from Harvard University, and his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Cornell University. After completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Alpert was recognized with the 2012 Bernard N. Fields Prize, which is awarded to the M.D. or Ph.D. candidate within the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology of Harvard Medical School who best exemplifies the virtues of intellectual creativity, collegiality, and compassion displayed by former Department Chairman Bernard N. Fields.
Dr. Alpert’s research has focused on experimental vaccine approaches for HIV. His Ph.D. research at the New England Primate Research Center (NEPRC) at Harvard Medical School aimed to understand the immune responses elicited by live-attenuated vaccines against simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), and how these immune responses are able to provide complete protection in the absence of detectable neutralizing antibodies. In the course of this research, Dr. Alpert developed the assay for measuring antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) that has since been adopted as the ‘gold standard’ by the field. Dr. Alpert’s measures of ADCC based on this assay were used for the primary immune correlates analysis of the RV144 HIV vaccine clinical trial.
Based on the extraordinary difficulty of eliciting protective antibody responses against HIV, Dr. Alpert has re-focused on AAV-expressed eCD4-Ig as the fastest, simplest, and most plausible route to effective vaccine-like protection against HIV. To advance these efforts, Dr. Alpert founded Emmune, Inc. with Drs. Michael Farzan, Charles Bailey, Matthew Gardner, and Guocai Zhong.
Dr. Alpert is a scientist who founded Emmune, Inc., to develop eCD4-Ig and adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for treating and preventing HIV infection. Dr. Alpert received his Ph.D. in Virology from Harvard University, and his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Cornell University. After completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Alpert was recognized with the 2012 Bernard N. Fields Prize, which is awarded to the M.D. or Ph.D. candidate within the Department of Microbiology and Immunobiology of Harvard Medical School who best exemplifies the virtues of intellectual creativity, collegiality, and compassion displayed by former Department Chairman Bernard N. Fields.
Dr. Alpert’s research has focused on experimental vaccine approaches for HIV. His Ph.D. research at the New England Primate Research Center (NEPRC) at Harvard Medical School aimed to understand the immune responses elicited by live-attenuated vaccines against simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), and how these immune responses are able to provide complete protection in the absence of detectable neutralizing antibodies. In the course of this research, Dr. Alpert developed the assay for measuring antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) that has since been adopted as the ‘gold standard’ by the field. Dr. Alpert’s measures of ADCC based on this assay were used for the primary immune correlates analysis of the RV144 HIV vaccine clinical trial.
Based on the extraordinary difficulty of eliciting protective antibody responses against HIV, Dr. Alpert has re-focused on AAV-expressed eCD4-Ig as the fastest, simplest, and most plausible route to effective vaccine-like protection against HIV. To advance these efforts, Dr. Alpert founded Emmune, Inc. with Drs. Michael Farzan, Charles Bailey, Matthew Gardner, and Guocai Zhong.