Dr. Zheng Wei Chen received his medical degree and Ph.D. in Clinical Immunology from Peking Union Medical School. He subsequently received post-doctoral training in immunology in Dr. Norman L. Letvin's laboratory at Harvard Medical School, where he currently has an appointment as an Instructor in Medicine. He will be made an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School's Beth Israel Hospital in the fall of 1993 in the newly established Division of Viral Pathogenesis. He plans a full-time career as an academic investigator and teacher. The support he would receive form this award would play an important part in his growth to scientific independence. T lymphocytes play an important role in limiting the spread of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) as well as the immunopathogenesis of AIDS. Elucidating the molecular interactions of T lymphocytes and the AIDS virus is therefore of central importance for exploring the immune control of an AIDS virus infection. The simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)-infected macaque monkey has proven to be an important model for the study of the pathogenesis and treatment of AIDS. SIVmac-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) have been demonstrated in SIVmac-infected rhesus monkeys, and have been shown to suppress SIVmac replication in PBL in vitro. Moreover, a variant of SIV, termed SIVsmmPBJ14, has been demonstrated to stimulate T lymphocyte proliferation and induce an acutely lethal disease in experimentally inoculated pig-tailed macaques. These unique properties of this isolate raise the possibility that this virus may indeed encode a superantigen. Employing the SIV/macaque model, Dr. Chen will study at a molecular level the T lymphocyte recognition of SIV in macaque monkeys. In these studies he will define CTL-T cell receptor (TCR) recognition of a MHC class 1-SIV peptide complex in rhesus monkeys, and explore the TCR repertoire of SIVsmmPBJ14-infected pig-tailed macaques. Dr. Chen's scientific growth will be well achieved in the Division of Viral Pathogenesis at the Beth Israel Hospital. The technical expertise and commitment to work in elucidating the immunopathogenesis of AIDS of other members of the division will immeasurably assist Dr. Chen in his scientific progress. Dr. Letvin is fully committed to Dr. Chen's development as an independent investigator.
