Simone Sterne
H3Africa PI: Lynn Morris
Institution: National Institute for Communicable Diseases
Project Affiliation: Immunoglobulin gene diversity in an African population and impact on antibody function in HIV infection
Biography
Simone is currently a Senior Research Scientist in the Antibody Immunity Research Unit of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and at the University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, where she also completed her PhD. Her research focuses on the role of Fc effector function in HIV, COVID-19, Cytomegalovirus and Influenza infection and vaccination and the improvement of broadly neutralizing antibody function for passive immunization. She is currently leads a small team of passionate immunologists. She was recently honoured as an early career fellow of two of the biggest HIV vaccine bodies, the HIV Vaccine Trials Network and the Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery. She is currently a co-investigator on an H3 Africa NIH U01 grant and co-PI on a flagship Medical Research Council grant that aims to assess Fc effector function of antibodies and although the exciting science keeps her busy, is extremely passionate about science communication!