Seaman Laboratory
Dr. Michael Seaman is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School. He obtained his Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in 2000, and did his post-doctoral research training with Dr. Norman Letvin at Harvard Medical School. Since 2004, Dr. Seaman’s laboratory has been actively involved in research efforts to study neutralizing antibody responses directed against HIV-1, SHIV, or SIV in the setting of vaccination and/or infection. Dr. Seaman directs the HIV-1 Neutralizing Antibody Core Laboratory that is a component of the Collaboration for AIDS Vaccine Discovery (CAVD) program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His laboratory uses high-throughput validated assays for measuring neutralizing antibody responses generated by candidate HIV-1 vaccines and broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibodies being developed by collaborators both nationally and internationally. In addition, his laboratory studies scientific issues related to standard virus panel development and neutralization serotype discovery. His laboratory has also made significant contributions to the discovery, characterization, and development of broadly neutralizing antibodies that are now being evaluated in clinical studies for the prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infection. In addition, Dr. Seaman is the Director of the Clinical Research Laboratory (CRL) for the Harvard/Boston/Providence Clinical Trials Unit. Over the past fifteen years, the CRL core laboratory has supported phase I and II clinical vaccine studies conducted at Harvard affiliated institutions including MGH, BIDMC, BWH, Fenway Community Health, and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. These trials have been conducted as part of the NIAID supported HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN), the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), the Integrated Pre-Clinical/Clinical AIDS Vaccine Development Program (IPCAVD), the Ragon Institute Clinical Trials Initiative, and DMID sponsored biodefense clinical studies.