The Fuller lab is focused on investigating therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines for HIV and influenza, hepatitis B, Zika and other viral infections. In addition, we are investigating novel small protein antivirals computationally designed to mimic the binding of broadly neutralizing antibodies that bind highly conserved viral domains.

Vaccines and antivirals are the primary strategies used to combat viral infections in humans. HIV-1 and influenza pose significant challenges in that they are both highly variable viruses that rapidly evolve to evade host immunity and antiviral drugs. For HIV-1, infected individuals harbor a substantial array of HIV-1 variants, a situation that presents a daunting challenge for developing vaccines and therapies. Similarly, the worldwide variability in flu reservoirs makes it difficult to predict which flu strain might acquire the ability to infect the human population, and due to the narrow timeframe between detecting a human infection and the “predict and produce” method for generating the vaccine each season, current influenza vaccines will likely be inadequate for preventing the next flu pandemic.