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What is your name?
Jinal Nomathemba Bhiman
What is your current position?
Postdoctoral Research Associate
Which institute and country do you work in?
The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, USA
What is your home country?
South Africa
What are your research interests?
HIV vaccine research, host-pathogen interactions, B cell development
Tell us about yourself and your research interests:
I began my scientific career as a student at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in Johannesburg, South Africa. This was the first time I was exposed to “real” research with aims that were both descriptive and hypothesis-driven and with outcomes that were unknown and intriguing. This foray into host-pathogens interactions in the context of HIV-1 infection, initiated my interest in HIV vaccine design. Since then I completed my MSc and PhD degrees in South Africa and am currently a postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, USA.
My PhD research investigated how viral evolution during HIV infection can lead to the initiation and maturation of broadly neutralizing antibodies, which are the antibodies likely needed for a preventative HIV vaccine. My postdoctoral research is translating the basic immunology hypotheses generated from my PhD through immunogen design and development of immunization strategies. In addition, I am also keen on defining the sites of immunodominance on the soluble HIV envelope trimer constructs that we are using as immunogens.
Upon completion of my postdoctoral training, I hope to return to my home country to continue my academic career and to pay it forward by training the next generation of African scientists.
What are your online profiles?
LinkedIn – Jinal Bhiman
ResearchGate – Jinal Bhiman
Immunology Keywords: HIV, immunogens, vaccines
