Robert K. Abbott, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor

    • Germinal center B cell biology
    • Memory B cell and long-lived plasma cell biology
    • Vaccine development for emerging pandemic threats
    • Metabolic regulation of humoral immunity
    • B cell-based cancer vaccines
  • Doctor of Philosophy in BiologyNortheastern UniversityBoston, Massachusetts2016
    Master of Science in Cardiopulmonary and Exercise ScienceNortheastern UniversityBoston, Massachusetts2010
    Bachelor of Science in Cardiopulmonary and Exercise ScienceNortheastern UniversityBoston, Massachusetts2010
    Bachelor of Science in Behavioral NeuroscienceNortheastern UniversityBoston, Massachusetts2010
  • University of Texas Rising STARS award8/2022

    NIH New Innovator Award (DP2 grant, NIAID)

    12/2021
    CHAVI-ID Young Investigator Award for Outstanding Contributions to HIV/AIDS Vaccine Research01/2019
    NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award (NIAID)2019

     

    • American Association for Immunologists (AAI)
    • Gulf Coast Consortia (GCC)
    • Kuzmin IV, Acosta RS, Pruitt L, Wasdin PT, Kedarinath K, Hernandez KR, Gonzales KA, Hill K, Weidner NG, Mire C, Engdahl TB, Moon WJ, Popov V, Crowe JE, Georgiev IS, Garcia-Blanco MA, Abbott RK*, Bukreyev A*. Comparison of uridine and N1-methylpseudouridine mRNA platforms in development of an Andes virus vaccine.
      Nat Commun. 2024;15(1):6421. PMCID: PMC11289437 * = Corresponding author.
    • Huang D**, Abbott RK**, Havenar-Daughton C, Skog PD, Al-Kolla R, Groschel B, Blane TR, Menis S, Tran JT, Thinnes TC, Volpi SA, Liguori A, Schiffner T, Villegas SM, Kalyuzhniy O, Pintea M, Voss JE, Phelps N, Tingle R, Rodriguez AR, Martin G, Kupryianov S, deCamp A, Schief WR, Nemazee D, Crotty S. B cells expressing authentic naive human VRC01-class BCRs can be recruited to germinal centers and affinity mature in multiple independent mouse models. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA [Internet]. 2020 Sep 1;202004489. ** = equal contribution.
    • Abbott RK, Lee JH, Menis S, Skog P, Rossi M, Ota T, Kulp DW, Bhullar D, Kalyuzhniy O, Havenar-Daughton C, Schief WR, Nemazee D, Crotty S. Precursor Frequency and Affinity Determine B Cell Competitive Fitness in Germinal Centers, Tested with Germline-Targeting HIV Vaccine Immunogens. Immunity. 2018;48. PMID: 29287996
    • Abbott RK*, Thayer M, Labuda J, Silva M, Philbrook P, Cain DW, Kojima H, Hatfield S, Sethumadhavan S, Ohta A, Reinherz EL, Kelsoe G, Sitkovsky M. Germinal Center Hypoxia Potentiates Immunoglobulin Class Switch Recombination. J Immunol. 2016;197(10):4014–4020. PMID: 27798169. * = Corresponding author