Co-Investigator, Research Project 1, MISM
Asst. Professor in Surgery, Duke University
Moses Dennison Sekaran, PhD, Project Co-Lead, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Surgery at Duke University and leads the Biophysical Immunology group in the Duke Center for Human Systems Immunology. He has 17 years of experience focused on the biophysical characterization of antibody dynamics in the context of vaccination and infection for global health pathogens such as HIV, malaria, SARS-CoV-2, and typhoid. Dr. Sekaran currently leads the Biophysical Immunology group at Duke University, which studies the dynamics of vaccine-elicited antibody-antigen interactions to accelerate progress in combating and eradicating diseases of global health importance. We use Biolayer Interferometry and Surface Plasmon Resonance imaging to address questions about epitope recognition by monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies that protect against pathogen infection.
Dr. Sekaran's expertise in assessing the kinetics of antibody-antigen interactions, using best-in-class technologies to study human immunity and identify immune correlates of protection, will be key to guiding the activities of MISM Research Project 1. He supervises the Research Analysts and Data Analysts who perform SPR data collection, data analysis, and data quality control. His effort involves optimization and characterization of antibodies on a small scale. Dr. Sekeran meets regularly with Dr. Singh, Dr. Henderson, and other investigators to plan and implement antibody biophysical characterization. He directly oversees all MISM Research Project 1 laboratory personnel at Duke and coordinates analysis, data interpretation, and reporting of findings.
NOTE: Dr. Sekaran publishes under the name S. Moses Dennison.