John P. Moore

About

John P. Moore, Ph.D., is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Weill Cornell Medicine. His research focuses on the structure and function of the HIV-1 envelope (Env) glycoprotein trimer, which is critical for the virus's entry into host cells and a key target for host immunity. He and his team utilize their knowledge to design and evaluate recombinant Env proteins as immunogens for vaccine development, aiming to induce broadly active neutralizing antibodies to prevent HIV-1 infection. His work involves designing stable, recombinant trimers called SOSIP glycoproteins that mimic native viral structures, with the goal of eliciting effective immune responses. Dr. Moore collaborates with multidisciplinary teams, including structural biologists and immunologists, to advance this research.

Research topics

• Virology
• Immunology
• Biology
• Chemistry
• Nanotechnology
• Materials science
• Biochemistry
• Cell biology
• Medicine
• Biophysics

Selected publications

• SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines and the Growing Threat of Viral Variants

  JAMA · 2021 · 248 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Wenjuan Zhang, PhD; Brian D. Davis, BSc; Stephanie S. Chen, BSc; Jorge M. Sincuir Martinez, BS; Jasmine T. Plummer, PhD; Eric Vail, MD

  PublisherDOI

• Tailored design of protein nanoparticle scaffolds for multivalent presentation of viral glycoprotein antigens

  eLife · 2020 · 186 citations

  designed trimers tailored for antigen fusion, featuring N-terminal helices positioned to match the C termini of the viral glycoproteins. Trimers that experimentally adopted their designed configurations were incorporated as components of tetrahedral, octahedral, and icosahedral nanoparticles, which were characterized by cryo-electron microscopy and assessed for their ability to present viral glycoproteins. Electron microscopy and antibody binding experiments demonstrated that the designed nanopa…

  DOI

• T cell-inducing vaccine durably prevents mucosal SHIV infection even with lower neutralizing antibody titers

  Nature Medicine · 2020 · 168 citations

  T cells. We propose that cellular immune responses reduce the threshold of nAbs required to confer superior and durable protection.

  DOI

• Germline-targeting HIV-1 Env vaccination induces VRC01-class antibodies with rare insertions

  Cell Reports Medicine · 2023-04-01 · 50 citations

  articleOpen access

  Targeting germline (gl-) precursors of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) is acknowledged as an important strategy for HIV-1 vaccines. The VRC01-class of bNAbs is attractive because of its distinct genetic signature. However, VRC01-class bNAbs often require extensive somatic hypermutation, including rare insertions and deletions. We describe a BG505 SOSIP trimer, termed GT1.2, to optimize binding to gl-CH31, the unmutated common precursor of the CH30-34 bNAb lineage that acquired a large CD…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Germline-targeting HIV vaccination induces neutralizing antibodies to the CD4 binding site

  Science Immunology · 2024-08-30 · 36 citations

  articleOpen access

  Eliciting potent and broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) is a major goal in HIV-1 vaccine development. Here, we describe how germline-targeting immunogen BG505 SOSIP germline trimer 1.1 (GT1.1), generated through structure-based design, engages a diverse range of VRC01-class bnAb precursors. A single immunization with GT1.1 expands CD4 binding site (CD4bs)-specific VRC01-class B cells in knock-in mice and drives VRC01-class maturation. In nonhuman primates (NHPs), GT1.1 primes CD4bs-specific…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant U19AI076982

  NIH · $9.2M · 2013

• NIH Grant R21AI042721

  NIH · $495k · 1999

• NIH Grant R01AI045463

  NIH · $4.8M · 2011

Frequent coauthors

• Rogier W. Sanders

  Cornell University

  355 shared

• Per Johan Klasse

  Cornell University

  178 shared

• Andrew B. Ward

  Scripps Research Institute

  151 shared

• Thomas J. Ketas

  Cornell University

  147 shared

• Ian A. Wilson

  Scripps Research Institute

  130 shared

• David D. Ho

  Columbia University

  129 shared

• James Μ. Binley

  San Diego Biomedical Research Institute

  113 shared

• Dennis R. Burton

  Scripps Research Institute

  109 shared

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