Flavia Chiuppesi, Ph.D.

[email protected]
626-256-4673
Flavia Chiuppesi, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation
Research Area
  • SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines Development and Testing in Vivo
  • Evaluation of Vaccine-induced Immune Responses in SARS-CoV-2 Vaccine Recipients
  • Identification and Analysis of Human Cytomegalovirus-specific Neutralizing Antibodies
  • in Vivo Investigation of the Humoral Response to HCMV Vaccine Candidates
  • Optimization of Novel “universal” HCMV Vaccine Candidates for Congenital CMV Infection and CMV Disease in Transplant Recipients
  • Development of Nanoparticles-based HIV Vaccines
  • Analysis of the Neutralizing Antibody Response to HCMV in Transplant Recipients
  • Immun-oncology

Flavia Chiuppesi, Ph.D., is an assistant research professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, California. Her research focuses on the identification of humoral and cell-mediated immune responses — fundamental for characterizing antibody and polyfunctional cell-mediated responses induced by novel cytomegalovirus vaccine candidates based on the expression of the virus envelope pentamer complex, glycoprotein B and phosphoprotein 65 from a Modified Vaccinia Ankara vector — that can be essential in protecting against congenital CMV and CMV infection in transplant recipients.

Dr. Chiuppesi started as a graduate student and research fellow at the University of Pisa, Italy, where she helped develop lentiviral vectors for preventing genital infections caused by herpes simplex viruses and characterizing in vivo cell-mediated and humoral immune responses to these vectors.

She joined City of Hope as a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Don J. Diamond, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation at City of Hope, where she continues to pursue her interests in herpes vaccinology. She has recently shifted her research from herpesviruses to coronaviruses, leading the development and testing in multiple animal models of a candidate vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 based on a fully synthetic vaccine platform that is now being tested in a phase I clinical trial (NCT04639466). Dr. Chiuppesi is currently investigating vaccine-induced protective immune responses in individuals immunized with City of Hope's SARS-CoV-2-vaccine.

Location

Education & Experience

Degrees

  • 2011, Ph.D., Fundamental and Clinical Virology, University of Pisa, Italy

  • 2007, M.S., Molecular Science & Technology, University of Pisa, Italy

  • 2005, B.S., Molecular Biology, University of Pisa, Italy

Professional Experience

  • 2019-present, Assistant Research Professor, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2016-2019, Staff Scientist, Department of Hematology & Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope, Duarte, CA

  • 2012-2016, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Experimental Therapeutics, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte CA

  • 2011-2012, Postdoctoral Fellow, Retrovirus Centre, University of Pisa, Italy

Awards & Memberships

Awards

  • 2015, Best Poster in the Postdoctoral Fellow Category, City of Hope Annual Poster Session for 2015, “Collaboration: Experimental Approaches to Medical Challenges”

  • 2014, Best Poster in the Postdoctoral Fellow Category, City of Hope Annual Poster Session for 2014, “Collaboration: Scientific Exploration and Therapeutic Advances”

  • 2012, Full Scholarship for the “Institute Pasteur Vaccinology Course 2012,” Pasteur Institute, Paris, France (March 1-29)

  • 2010, Full Scholarship for the 3rd Hong Kong University (HKU), Pasteur Immunology Course, HKU-Pasteur Research Centre, Hong Kong, China (Nov. 1-12)

  • 2010, Full Scholarship for the ZIBI-International Summer School on Pathogen-Host-Interplay “Interdisciplinary Center for Infection Biology and Immunity" of the Humboldt-University (ZIBI), Berlin, Germany (July 11-24)

  • 2009, European Qualification in Biochemical Technician Expert in Industry and Territorial Services, University of Pisa, Italy, and Regione Toscana

Publications

  • Chiuppesi F, d’Alincourt Salazar M, Contreras H, Nguyen VH, Martinez J, POart Y, Nguyen J, Kha M, Iniguez A, Zhou Q, Kaltcheva T, Levytskyy R, Ebelt ND, Kang TH, Wu X, Rogers TF, Manuel ER, Shostak Y, Diamond DJ, Wussow F. 2020. Development of a multi-antigenic SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate using a synthetic poxvirus platform. Nat Commun 11, 6121.
  • Ali A, Chiuppesi F, Nguyen M, Haunser MA, Nguyen J, Kha M, Iniguez A, Wussow F, Diamond DJ, Yang OO. Chimeric Antigen Receptors Targeting Human Cytomegalovirus. The Journal of Infectious Diseases, Volume 222, Issue 5, 1 September 2020, Pages 853–862.
  • Sun G, Chiuppesi F, Chen X, Wang C, Tian N, Nguyen J, Kha M, Trinh D, Zhang H, Marchetto MC, Song H., Ming G., Gage FH, Diamond DJ, Wussow F, Shi Y. Modeling Human Cytomegalovirus-Induced Microcephaly in Human iPSC-Derived Brain Organoids. Cell Reports medicine. 2020. Doi: 10.1016/j.xcrm.2020.100002. PMID: N/A
  • Barry PA, Deere JD, Yue Y, Chang WW, Schmidt KA, Wussow F, Chiuppesi F, Diamond DJ, Sparger EE, Walter MR, Hartigan-O’Connor DJ. Cytomegalovirus-vectored vaccines for HIV and other pathogens. AIDS: March 1, 2020 - Volume 34 - Issue 3 - p 335-349. 
  • Cichocki F, Taras E, Chiuppesi F, Wagner JE, Blazar BR, Brunstein C, Luo X, Diamond DJ, Cooley S, Weisdorf DJ, Miller JS. Adaptive NK cell reconstitution is associated with better clinical outcomes. JCI Insight. 2019 Jan 24; 4(2): e125553.
  • Diamond DJ, La Rosa C, Chiuppesi F, Contreras H, Dadwal S, Wussow F, Bautista S, Nakamura R, Zaia J. 2018. A Fifty Year Odyssey: Prospects for a Cytomegalovirus Vaccine in Transplant and Congenital Infection. Expert Review of Vaccines. Pages 889-911.
  • Chiuppesi F, Nguyen J, Park S, Contreras H, Kha M, Meng Z, Kaltcheva T, Iniguez A, Martinez J, La Rosa C, Wussow F, Diamond DJ. 2018. Multi-Antigenic Modified Vaccinia Ankara Vaccine Vectors to Elicit Potent Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses Against Human Cytomegalovirus in Mice. J Virol 10.1128/JVI.01012-18.
  • Wussow F, Chiuppesi F, Meng Z, Martinez J, Nguyen J, Barry PA, Diamond DJ. 2018. Exploiting 2a peptides to elicit potent neutralizing antibodies by a multi-subunit herpesvirus glycoprotein complex. Journal of Virological Methods Vol. 251, January 2018, Pages 30-37.
  • Wussow F, Chiuppesi F, Contreras H, Diamond DJ. 2017. Neutralization of Human Cytomegalovirus Entry into Fibroblasts and Epithelial Cells. Vaccines 2017, 5(4), 39.
  • Chiuppesi F, Wussow F, Scharf L, Contreras H, Gao H, Meng Z, Nguyen J, Barry PA, Bjorkman PJ, Diamond DJ. 2017. Comparison of homologous and heterologous prime-boost vaccine approaches using Modified Vaccinia Ankara and soluble protein to induce neutralizing antibodies by the human cytomegalovirus pentamer complex in mice. PLoS ONE 12(8): e0183377.
  • Nelson CS, Cruz DV, Tran D, Bialas KM, Stamper L, Wu H, Gilbert M, Blair R, Alvarez X, Itell H, Chen M, Deshpande A, Chiuppesi F, Wussow F, Diamond DJ, Vandergrift N, Walter MR, Barry PA, Cohen-Wolkowiez M, Koelle K, Kaur A, Permar SR. 2017. Preexisting antibodies can protect against congenital cytomegalovirus infection in monkeys. JCI Insight. 2017 Jul 6; 2(13): e94002.
  • Fan Q, Nelson CS, Bialas KM, Chiuppesi F, Amos J, Gurley TC, Marshall DJ, Eudailey J, Heimsath H, Himes J, Deshpande A, Walter MR, Wussow F, Diamond DJ, Barry PA, Moody MA, Kaur M, Permar SR. 2017. Plasmablast response to primary rhesus cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in a monkey model of congenital CMV transmission. Clinical and Vaccine Immunology vol. 24 no. 5 e00510-16.
  • Chiuppesi F, Kaltcheva T, Zhuo M, Barry PA, Diamond DJ, Wussow F. 2016. Identification of a Cryptic Neutralizing Epitope within UL128 of Human Cytomegalovirus. J Virol 91 (6), e01857-16
  • La Rosa C, Longmate J, Martinez J, Zhou Q, Kaltcheva T, Tsai W, Drake J, Carroll M, Wussow F, Chiuppesi F, Hardwick N, Dadwal S, Aldoss I, Nakamura R, Zaia JA, Diamond DJ. 2016. MVA vaccine encoding CMV antigens safely induces durable expansion of CMV-specific T-cells in healthy adults. Blood. blood-2016-07-729756.
  • Donalisio M, Quaranta P, Chiuppesi F, Pistello M, Cagno V, Cavalli R, Volante M, Bugatti A, Rusnati M, Ranucci E, Ferruti P, Lembo D. 2016. The AGMA1 poly(amidoamine) inhibits the infectivity of herpes simplex virus in cell lines, in human cervicovaginal histocultures, and in vaginally infected mice. Biomaterials 85:40-53.
  • Bialas KM, Tanaka T, Tran D, Varner V, Cisneros De La Rosa E, Chiuppesi F, Wussow F, Kattenhorn L, Macri S, Kunz EL, Estroff JA, Kirchherr J, Yue Y, Fan Q, Lauck M, O'Connor DH, Hall AH, Xavier A, Diamond DJ, Barry PA, Kaur A, Permar SR. 2015. Maternal CD4+ T cells protect against severe congenital cytomegalovirus disease in a novel nonhuman primate model of placental cytomegalovirus transmission. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112:13645-13650.
  • Chiuppesi F, Wussow F, Johnson E, Bian C, Zhuo M, Rajakumar A, Barry PA, Britt WJ, Chakraborty R, Diamond DJ. 2015. Vaccine-Derived Neutralizing Antibodies to the Human Cytomegalovirus gH/gL Pentamer Potently Block Primary Cytotrophoblast Infection. J Virol 89:11884-11898.
  • Wussow F, Chiuppesi F, Martinez J, Campo J, Johnson E, Flechsig C, Newell M, Tran E, Ortiz J, La Rosa C, Herrmann A, Longmate J, Chakraborty R, Barry PA, Diamond DJ. 2014. Human cytomegalovirus vaccine based on the envelope gH/gL pentamer complex. PLoS Pathog 10:e1004524.
  • Agostini S, Lionetti V, Matteucci M, Chiuppesi F, Giacca M, Pistello M, Recchia FA. 2013. A new dual-promoter system for cardiomyocyte-specific conditional induction of apoptosis. Biomed Res Int 2013:845816.
  • Vannucci L, Lai M, Chiuppesi F, Ceccherini-Nelli L, Pistello M. 2013. Viral vectors: a look back and ahead on gene transfer technology. New Microbiol 36:1-22.