The laboratory of Dr. Otto Yang in the Department of Medicine is interested in T cell immunology in HIV infection and developing immune therapies and vaccine for HIV, caner, and other viral infections. Dr. Yang’s laboratory has several technologies that may be of interest in treating coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2.
Dr. Yang’s lab has developed a novel chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) against HIV infection. CARs are artificial T cell receptors that are designed bind to certain proteins on diseased cells, thus helping the T cells find and kill the target diseased cells such as virus-infected or cancer cells. Dr. Yang’s CAR inhibits a virus’s ability to fuse to a cell during infection and also protects the CAR-transduced T cells from being infected.
Additionally, Dr. Yang’s lab has created a novel human protein nanoparticle-based antiviral vaccine that can be potentially targeted against several viruses. This vaccine has been tested against HIV and the common flu virus in mice, but could also be applied to coronaviruses, including SARS-CoV-2.
Link to Faculty website: https://bioscience.ucla.edu/faculty/otto-yang
Link to relevant cases: 2016-299, 2018-576