Posts by Gaurav D. Gaiha, MD
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T Cell Response to Omicron Preserved With Prior COVID-19 Infection, Vaccination
Massachusetts General Hospital investigators evaluated T cell immune responses to the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant and found that individuals with prior COVID-19 infection or vaccination have a robust T cell response against Omicron, despite low antibody responses.
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Researchers Find Potential Path to a Broadly Protective COVID-19 Vaccine Using T cells
Gaurav Gaiha, MD, DPhil, and Elizabeth Rossin, MD, PhD, use structure-based network analysis to confirm predictions about the potential for a T cell vaccine that provides protection against existing variants, such as the Delta variant, and future SARS-CoV-2 variants.
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Medical Grand Rounds: Evolution of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Implications for Vaccines, Treatment
On April 1, 2021, the Department of Medicine held a virtual Harvard Medical Grand Rounds on COVID-19. Richelle Charles, MD, physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, and Bruce D. Walker, MD, director of the Ragon Institute, and other members from the Boston medical community, discuss the evolution of the pandemic, including vaccines and treatment.
Biography
Gaurav D. Gaiha, MD, DPhil, is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Attending Physician in the Division of Gastroenterology at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Gaiha’s lab focuses on understanding the T cell response to viral diseases and GI cancer, with the goal of identifying T cell targets that can be used to drive rational design of vaccines and treatments. The Gaiha lab is working to establish a T cell vaccine platform that uses structure-based network analysis, a novel approach that integrates protein structure data and network theory, to identify regions within pathogens that are resistant to mutation. Using this approach, Dr. Gaiha identified T cell targeting in individuals who spontaneously control HIV in the absence of therapy (Gaiha et al., Science 2019). These results are now being used to drive rational design of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines for HIV. The lab is also using this approach to study other pathogens of global significance, such as SARS-CoV-2. Additionally, in collaboration with industry partners, Dr. Gaiha is exploring a range of vaccine modalities to induce robust tissue-resident and systemic T cell immunity towards specific targets. Dr. Gaiha is a recipient of the NIAID New Innovators DP2 Award (2020), the Gilead HIV Scholars Research Award (2020) and the Burroughs Wellcome Career Award for Medical Scientists (2019). He also received the Fellows Award for Excellence in Clinical Teaching from the MGH Department of Medicine. Dr. Gaiha received his DPhil in Biochemistry from Oxford University as a Clarendon Scholar and his MD magna cum laude from the Health Sciences and Technology (HST) program at Harvard Medical School and MIT. He trained in Internal Medicine and Gastroenterology at Mass General before completing his post-doctoral research fellowship at the Ragon Institute.
Digestive Healthcare at Mass General
The Massachusetts General Hospital Digestive Healthcare Center is a collaborative practice of gastroenterologists, endoscopists, surgeons, radiologists, pathologists, hepatologists, oncologists and radiation oncologists dedicated to the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of digestive diseases.