Ge (Sophie) Song, Ph.D.
Doctoral Thesis: Neutralizing Antibody Responses Against Conserved Vulnerable Epitopes on HIV and Coronavirus Surface Glycoproteins
Research Focus: Song’s research focused on the neutralizing antibodies targeting the conserved epitopes on the surface glycoproteins of two pandemic viruses, HIV and coronaviruses, which provide basis for rational vaccine development.
Undergraduate Institution: Peking University
Honors and Awards: Young Investigator Award, The Scripps Consortium For HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (2022)
Noteworthy Publications: Cross-reactive serum and memory B-cell responses to spike protein in SARS-CoV-2 and endemic coronavirus infection, Nature Communications (2021); A human antibody reveals a conserved site on beta-coronavirus spike proteins and confers protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection, Science Translational Medicine (2022)
Looking Back: "I would have never imagined when I started my PhD planning to work on HIV vaccine, that I would spend half of my time here studying a brand-new virus, SARS-CoV-2. I felt really fortunate to get into the fields of immunology and virology, and got such great support from my supervisors, with so many opportunities for collaborations with top-tier labs around the world."
Next Steps: "I will continue as a postdoc at Scripps working on my unfinished projects on HIV and SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibodies and vaccine development. And I’m planning to continue immunological research afterwards in an industry position."
Be sure to join us at 10 a.m. PDT on Friday, May 20 for our Commencement Ceremony Livestream! Song's advisor and mentor, Prof. Dennis Burton, will deliver a few words about her graduate experience, and viewers can learn about our 47 other 2022 graduates, who are now setting out to build careers that will profoundly impact the future of biomedical research.
