Clinical Profile
Dr. Catarina E. Hioe has spent the last twenty years building a translational research laboratory that undertakes multiple synergistic projects to study HIV-envelope-mediated immunity and immune pathogenesis, with the ultimate goal of developing preventive or therapeutic vaccines against HIV. Her research focuses on investigating the interplay between antibody (Ab) and helper T cell (Th cell) responses to the HIV envelope, with the goal of preventing HIV infection and disease.

Dr. Hioe’s lab is testing immune complexes as a vaccine platform to elicit antibodies and Th cells against the HIV envelope. Her lab is the only one currently exploring the potential use of immune complexes as an HIV vaccine component. Dr. Hioe’s lab is also investigating the key determinants for HIV resistance to neutralizing antibodies. In addition, the lab is evaluating the mechanisms by which the HIV envelope contributes to the depletion of highly vulnerable helper T cell subsets, such as Th17 cells.

Dr. Hioe has participated in multiple collaborative projects with US-based and international scientists. For example, Dr. Hioe is currently collaborating with Michael L. Dustin, Ph.D. (NYU/Oxford) to study the virologic synapse for HIV cell-to-cell transmission. She has also been working closely with Susan Zolla-Pazner, Ph.D., to support numerous large, interdisciplinary programs such as the Gates Foundation’s Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discover (CAVD), the US Department of Veterans Affairs Reserve Educational Assistance Program (REAP), the NIH Centers for AIDS Research (CFAR) at NYU, and the ongoing NIH HIV Vaccine Research and Design (HIVRAD) Program (P01). In addition, Dr. Hioe is working with collaborators to (1) introduce into the lab the next generation of variable Ig gene sequencing techniques for vaccine-induced Abs, (2) design new scaffolds to induce antibodies together with helper-T cells, and (3) better understand HIV envelope glycobiology.

Impact
Since 1998, Dr. Hioe’s laboratory has been awarded continuous research support from the NIH, the VA, and other funding sources. Key findings from Dr. Hioe’s research endeavors have been reported at national and international meetings and have been published in over 50 original papers and review articles in highly regarded peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Hioe has also received national and international recognition for her contributions to HIV research, as evidenced by invitations to scientific reviews and meetings from the NIH, the VA, and international agencies in the United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, and, most recently, the Czech Republic. Dr. Hioe has been invited to present at seminars in the United States, China, and Japan. She also serves as an editor and reviewer of manuscripts for many journals.