Jeremiah Heredia was the first student to join the Procko lab three- and-a-half years ago. Now, the fourth-year biochemistry Ph.D. candidate is an integral member of the group’s research team.

Heredia spends most of his time analyzing the interactions between different conformations, or shapes, of the HIV-1 envelope protein (Env) and the antibodies in the immune system.

“Env adopts multiple protein conformations, such as the open and closed conformations,” Heredia explained. The closed confirmation is more successfully recognized by broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) in the body, making it a potential element in an effective HIV vaccine.

In his experiments, Heredia introduces multiple mutations into Env.

“This has provided insight into Env mutational tolerance for acquiring closed and open conformations, [which] has allowed us to engineer Env towards the closed conformation recognized by bNAbs,” he elaborated.

At Heredia’s disposal is deep mutational scanning, one of the big data tools pioneered at the lab.

This computer-assisted process allows the team to analyze thousands of protein mutations simultaneously—one of the unique methodologies that first attracted him to the Procko lab. As he learned more about virology, Heredia realized that “studying diseases added a tangible aspect to the science and made it far more interesting to study.”

From day one, Procko has been a mentor.

“It was nice being the first student, because I was able to learn directly from Erik. I saw firsthand how he worked and it set the guidelines for me,” said Heredia.

There is still a long road ahead in terms of creating a polyvalent vaccine—one that provides immunization against more than one strain of a virus.

“HIV-1 is a huge disease,” Heredia said. “A true vaccine would need these Env mutations to be transferrable to several of those strains.”

But the lab’s findings are a step in the right direction: Heredia has already discovered some beneficial mutations that work across different strains of HIV.

This work on vaccine development continues to pique his interest.

“Every week, I’m either learning something new or obtaining a new result that shifts my understanding.”

And in spite of how overwhelming HIV research can seem, the work is always rewarding.

“It’s great to know that Erik and I are in this together,” said Heredia. “Even though we are in this competitive field, I feel we are obtaining results that will benefit the HIV-1 community in (hopefully) developing an HIV-1 vaccine.”