Hilary Koprowski

Research focuses on immune responses elicited by rabies virus and rabies virus antigens. In particular, he is concentrating on delineating the chemical and antigenic composition of the different virus structural proteins and determining the scope and nature of immunogenic properties possessed by these proteins along or in conjunction with a variety of modalities. He is investigating the role of virus-specific monoclonal antibodies and evaluating these antibodies for both diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. In an effort to develop vaccines, his lab used a strategy of fusion of rabies antigen with a plant virus (alfalfa mosaic virus) and the material was injected into spinach leaves in which the rabies antigen was processed by replication of the plant virus. Spinach leaves were fed to mice, who developed antibodies against rabies virus, and then to human volunteers. Out of 9 volunteers the spinach vaccine primed four as evidence of high antibody response after exposure to commercial vaccine.