Catherine Meis

Over 1.5 million people contracted HIV in 2018. While HIV treatments have improved greatly, there is still not an effective HIV vaccine available to prevent the spread of the disease, so alternative approaches to prevention are needed. Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) against HIV have been developed, but they typically cannot remain present in the body long enough to provide protection. I am working to develop a drug delivery platform to administer bNAbs against HIV to prevent virus acquisition through passive immunization. As a materials scientist, I design and formulate injectable supramolecular hydrogels as the delivery mechanism to extend the lifetime of antibody and protein drugs in the body to protect against HIV.