Where Do We Stand With DNA Vaccine Technology for HIV Vaccines?

David Weiner, Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Chair of the Gene Therapy and Vaccine Program at Penn, will address the question: "Where do we stand with DNA vaccine technology for HIV vaccines?" DNA vaccines were a highly promising technology that did not perform well in initial studies in the clinic as a vaccine platform and was relegated to a second class status for vaccine development. However, several technological advancements over the past decade are being evaluated in nonhuman primates and clinical studies addressing a variety of important human diseases. The future of this technology for HIV vaccination strategies will be discussed.

Dr. Weiner has published 250 papers and 22 chapters on DNA vaccines, smallpox vaccines, and vaccines for agents of bioterrorism. He majored in biology in undergraduate and graduate school and joined Penn as a post-doc in pathology in 1986. From 1990 to 1993, he served as Director of Biotechnology at the Wistar Institute.

The luncheon is at 12:00 noon on Tuesday, June 1, 2010, in the Lenape Room of the University Club.