Center for Vaccines and Immunology, Department of Infectious Diseases
Postdoctoral Associate AD
Biography
The goal of my research project is to construct a tetravalent vaccine for Dengue virus. The vaccine is designed by using the Computationally Optimized Broadly Reactive Antigen (COBRA) methodology, developed by Ted Ross, PhD, for constructing subunit virus-like particles (SVPs) that can elicit immune response and protection against all four Dengue virus serotypes. The COBRA SVP vaccine will be tested in mouse models to determine its immunogenicity and effectiveness against viral challenges from the different serotypes.
Naoko received her undergraduate degree at Lewis & Clark College, where she was a Neely Scholar, the school’s highest merit based award. As a graduate student, she worked in the interdisciplinary field of nanomedicine, conducting research in nanomaterials and immunology. Her project was a collaboration with the Center for Electron Microscopy and Nanofabrication at Portland State University and the Robert W. Franz Cancer Research Center at Providence Hospital. She functionalized and characterized nanoparticles for cervical cancer vaccine adjuvant and determined vaccine efficacy in vivo and in vitro.
Research Interests
- Constructing a vaccine for all four serotypes of Dengue virus using Computationally Optimized Broadly Reactive Antigen (COBRA) methodology
- Determining homologous and heterologous protection of the Dengue COBRA vaccine in mouse models
Educational Background
- MS (2013), Applied Physics, Portland State University
- BS (2009), Physics, Lewis & Clark College
