Gary Nabel

Last updated
Gary J. Nabel
Alma mater Harvard University
Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Scientific career
Fields Virology, Immunology
Institutions Sanofi
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Harvard Medical School
University of Michigan

Gary J. Nabel is an American virologist and immunologist. He is the co-founder, president, and chief executive officer of ModeX Therapeutics, based in Natick, Massachusetts. [1] From 1999 until November 2012, he was the founding director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). [2] [3]

Contents

Education

Nabel completed his undergraduate studies at Harvard University in 1975, followed by an M.D. in 1980 and a Ph.D. in 1982. His dissertation research was conducted in the laboratory of immunologist Harvey Cantor.[ citation needed ] He then worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of David Baltimore at the Whitehead Institute, studying the regulation of HIV gene expression by the transcription factor NF-κB. [4] [5] He completed his Internal Medicine residency at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Career

Nabel joined the faculty of the University of Michigan in 1987, where he led a research laboratory on infectious diseases and cancer immunotherapy. He served as an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute until 1999, [6] researching viral vectors in gene therapy and transcriptional regulation of cellular and viral gene expression. [7] He also held the title of Sewell Professor of Internal Medicine and Biological Chemistry.[ citation needed ]

In 1999, Nabel joined the NIH in Washington, D.C. to help establish a vaccine research program. He served as the founding director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases within the NIH, and subsequently as a senior investigator with tenure. His work involved laboratory research and clinical trials, including over 100 clinical studies conducted in the United States, Europe, and Africa, involving candidates for SARS, chikungunya, universal influenza, and Ebola vaccines. [8]

Nabel moved to Sanofi in 2012, where he served as chief scientific officer and senior vice president. At Sanofi, research teams from Breakthrough Lab developed tri-specific antibodies under his oversight, which are being investigated as potential HIV treatments. [9] He also managed the Sanofi global research and development portfolio.[ citation needed ] In 2013, Sanofi appointed Nabel to the Chairman of Strategic Development and Scientific Advisory Council (SDSAC). [10]

Nabel co-founded ModeX Therapeutics in 2020, and currently serves as its president and CEO. [11] In May 2022, ModeX Therapeutics was acquired by OPKO Health. [12]

Biomedical research

At the University of Michigan, Nabel's basic research investigated gene transfer, [13] basic mechanisms of HIV gene regulation, and NF-κB transcriptional control. [14] [15]

As founding director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)’s Vaccine Research Center (VRC), Nabel contributed to research on neutralizing antibodies. Ebola research utilizing molecular immunology and molecular virology techniques identified genes critical for Ebola virus replication and assembly. The results demonstrated that a gene-based prime-boost vaccination strategy stimulates both cellular and humoral immune responses. This work led to the development of a vaccine that was tested in non-human primates [16] [17] [18] [19] and helped define the immune mechanisms of protection, guiding further development and trials in Africa. This work contributed to the conceptual basis for the VSV vaccine.

A vaccine effective in primates against the Chikungunya virus was also developed at the VRC. [20] Research by Nabel's team utilizing a structure-based approach to vaccine design revealed broadly protective human immune responses to HIV. [21] This led to the discovery of broadly neutralizing antibodies to the highly conserved CD4 binding site of HIV that are now in human efficacy trials in Africa. [22] His team's research also contributed to advancing novel SARS [23] and pandemic influenza [24] [25] vaccine candidates into clinical trials, as well as identifying potential vaccine candidates against encephalitis-causing viruses and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). [26] .

At Sanofi, Nabel's work included the development of an antibody platform capable of recognizing three targets in a single protein, tri-specific antibodies, now under evaluation for the treatment and prevention of AIDS and cancer. [27] [28]

Awards

Nabel's honors include the Amgen Scientific Achievement Award from the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, [29] The Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service, the Geoffrey Beene Foundation Builders of Science Award from Research America, and the James Tolbert Shipley Prize for Research at Harvard Medical School. [29] He received an honorary degree from the University of London, as well as the U.S. Army Medical Department’s Order of Military Medical Merit. Nabel is an elected fellow of the Association of American Physicians, the American Academy of the Arts and Sciences, and the AAAS. Nabel was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 1992 and the National Academy of Medicine in 1998.

Nabel served as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Keystone Symposia [30] from 2017 to 2019. He was a Council Delegate to the AAAS, Medical Sciences Section from 1997 to 2002, and served as the editor for the Journal of Virology from 1995 to 2005.

Selected publications

See Google Scholar for citation information.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "Gary Nabel » ModeX Therapeutics". ModeX Therapeutics. Retrieved 2025-09-17.
  2. ↑ Malakoff, David (1999-03-10). "Nabel to Head AIDS Vaccine Institute". www.science.org. Archived from the original on 2022-02-12. Retrieved 2025-03-16.
  3. ↑ Levin, Jennifer (15 November 2012). "Sanofi Appoints Dr. Gary J. Nabel as Chief Scientific Officer". Fierce Biotech. Retrieved 11 September 2025.
  4. ↑ Nabel, Gary; Baltimore, David (1987). "An inducible transcription factor activates expression of human immunodeficiency virus in T cells". Nature. 326 (6114): 711–713. Bibcode:1987Natur.326..711N. doi:10.1038/326711a0. PMID   3031512.
  5. ↑ Osborn, L.; Kunkel, S.; Nabel, G. J. (1989). "Tumor necrosis factor alpha and interleukin 1 stimulate the human immunodeficiency virus enhancer by activation of the nuclear factor kappa B". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 86 (7): 2336–2340. Bibcode:1989PNAS...86.2336O. doi:10.1073/pnas.86.7.2336. PMC   286907 . PMID   2494664.
  6. ↑ Dolgin, Elie (2013). "Straight talk with Gary Nabel". Nature Medicine. 19 (3): 256. doi:10.1038/nm0313-256. PMID   23467227.
  7. ↑ Nabel, G. J.; Nabel, E. G.; Yang, Z. Y.; Fox, B. A.; Plautz, G. E.; Gao, X.; Huang, L.; Shu, S.; Gordon, D.; Chang, A. E. (1993-12-01). "Direct gene transfer with DNA-liposome complexes in melanoma: expression, biologic activity, and lack of toxicity in humans". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 90 (23): 11307–
  8. ↑ "NIH Vaccine Chief Gary Nabel Trades Dream Job for Big Pharma". www.science.org. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  9. ↑ Wu, X; Yang, ZY; Li, Y; Hogerkorp, CM; Schief, WR; Seaman, MS; Zhou, T; Schmidt, SD; Wu, L; Xu, L; Longo, NS; McKee, K; O'Dell, S; Louder, MK; Wycuff, DL; Feng, Y; Nason, M; Doria-Rose, N; Connors, M; Kwong, PD; Roederer, M; Wyatt, RT; Nabel, GJ; Mascola, JR (Aug 2010). "Rational design of envelope identifies broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies to HIV-1". Science. 329 (5993): 856–61. Bibcode:2010Sci...329..856W. doi:10.1126/science.1187659. PMC   2965066 . PMID   20616233.
  10. ↑ Sanofi (2013). "Sanofi appoints Dr. Gary J. Nabel as Chairman of the SDSAC - Jan 7/2013". European Pharmaceutical Review. Retrieved 2025-10-30.
  11. ↑ Incorvaia, Darren (October 9, 2024). "ModeX's multispecific antibodies shut down COVID variants and advance to the clinic with $35M more BARDA bucks" . Retrieved 22 April 2025.
  12. ↑ Pandey, Pragya (June 7, 2022). "Is OPKO Health A Diagnostics Stock Worth Buying?". Entrepreneur. Retrieved 22 April 2025.
  13. ↑ Nabel, G. J.; Nabel, E. G.; Yang, Z. Y.; Fox, B. A.; Plautz, G. E.; Gao, X.; Huang, L.; Shu, S.; Gordon, D.; Chang, A. E. (1993). "Direct gene transfer with DNA-liposome complexes in melanoma: expression, biologic activity, and lack of toxicity in humans". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 90 (23): 11307–11311. Bibcode:1993PNAS...9011307N. doi:10.1073/pnas.90.23.11307. PMC   47971 . PMID   8248244.
  14. ↑ Wu, X; Yang, ZY; Li, Y; Hogerkorp, CM; Schief, WR; Seaman, MS; Zhou, T; Schmidt, SD; Wu, L; Xu, L; Longo, NS; McKee, K; O'Dell, S; Louder, MK; Wycuff, DL; Feng, Y; Nason, M; Doria-Rose, N; Connors, M; Kwong, PD; Roederer, M; Wyatt, RT; Nabel, GJ; Mascola, JR (Aug 2010). "Rational design of envelope identifies broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies to HIV-1". Science. 329 (5993): 856–61. doi:10.1126/science.1187659. PMC   2965066 . PMID   20616233.
  15. ↑ Branswell, Helen (2016-03-17). "Sanofi science chief says it's to time 'think big' about Zika". Retrieved 2017-04-03.
  16. ↑ Sullivan, NJ; Hensley, L; Asiedu, C; Geisbert, TW; Stanley, D; Johnson, J; Honko, A; Olinger, G; Bailey, M; Geisbert, JB; Reimann, KA; Bao, S; Rao, S; Roederer, M; Jahrling, PB; Koup, RA; Nabel, GJ. "CD8(+) cellular immunity mediates rAd5 vaccine protection against Ebola virus infection of nonhuman primates". Nat. Med. 17 (9): 1128–1131.
  17. ↑ Sullivan, NJ; Geisbert, TW; Geisbert, JB; Xu, L; Yang, Z-Y; Roederer, M; Koup, RA; Jahrling, PB; Nabel, GJ. "Accelerated vaccination for Ebola virus haemorrhagic fever in non-human primates". Nature. 424 (6949): 681–684.
  18. ↑ Xu L, Sanchez A, Yang Z, Zaki SR, Nabel EG, Nichol ST, Nabel GJ. "Immunization for Ebola virus infection. Nature Med. 4(1):37-42.
  19. ↑ Sullivan, N; Sanchez, A; Rollin, PE; Yang, ZY; Nabel, GJ. "Development of a preventative vaccine for Ebola virus infection in primates". Nature. 408 (6812): 605–609.
  20. ↑ Akahata, W; Yang, Z-Y; Andersen, H; Sun, S; Holdaway, HA; Kong, W-P; Lewis, MG; Higgs, S; Rossman, MG; Rao, S; Nabel, GJ. "A virus-like particle vaccine for epidemic Chikungunya virus protects nonhuman primates against infection". Nat. Med. 16 (3): 334–338.
  21. ↑ Zhou, T; Xu, L; Dey, B; Hessell, AJ; Van Ryk, D; Xiang, S-H; Yang, X; Zhang M-, Y; Zwick, MB; Arthos, J; Burton, DR; Dimitrov, DS; Sodroski, J; Wyatt, R; Nabel, GJ; Kwong, PD. "Structural definition of a conserved neutralization epitope on HIV-1 gp120". Nature. 445 (7129): 732–7.
  22. ↑ 7. Pegu A, Yang ZY, Boyington JC, Wu L, Ko SY, Schmidt SD, McKee K, Kong WP, Shi W, Chen X, Todd JP, Letvin NL, Huang J, Nason MC, Hoxie JA, Kwong PD, Connors M, Rao SS, Mascola JR, Nabel GJ. "Neutralizing antibodies to HIV-1 envelope protect more effectively in vivo than those to the CD4 receptor. Sci. Transl. Med. 6(243):243ra88, 2014.
  23. ↑ Yang, Z-Y; Kong, W-P; Huang, Y; Roberts, A; Murphy, B; Subbarao, K; Nabel, GJ. "A DNA vaccine induces SARS coronavirus neutralization and protective immunity in mice". Nature. 428 (6982): 561–564.
  24. ↑ Kong, W-P; Hood, C; Yang, Z-Y; Wei, C-J; Xu, L; Garcia-Sastre, A; Tumpey, TM; Nabel, GJ. "Protective immunity to lethal challenge of the 1918 pandemic influenza virus by vaccination". Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 103 (43): 15987–15991.
  25. ↑ Wei, C-J; Boyington, JC; McTamney, PM; Kong, W-P; Pearce, MB; Anderson, H; Rao, S; Tumpey, TM; Yang, Z-Y; Nabel, GJ. "Induction of broadly neutralizing H1N1 influenza antibodies by vaccination". Science. 329 (5995): 1060–1064.
  26. ↑ Kanekiyo, M; Bu, W; Joyce, MG; Meng, G; Whittle, JR; Baxa, U; Yamamoto, T; Narpala, S; Todd, JP; Rao, SS; McDermott, AB; Koup, RA; Rossmann, MG; Mascola, JR; Graham, BS; Cohen, JI; Nabel, GJ. "Rational Design of an Epstein-Barr Virus Vaccine Targeting the Receptor-Binding Site". Cell. 162 (5): 1090–1100.
  27. ↑ Wu, L; Seung, E; Xu, L; Rao, E; Lord, DM; Wei, RR; Cortez-Retamozo, V; Ospina, B; Posternak, V; Ulinski, G; Piepenhagen, P; Francesconi, E; El-Murr, N; Beil, C; Kirby, P; Li, A; Fretland, J; Vicente, R; Deng, GJ; Dabdoubi, T; Cameron, B; Bertrand, T; Ferrari, P; Pouzieux, S; Lemoine, C; Prades, C; Park, A; Qiu, HW; Song, ZL; Zhang, BL; Sun, FX; Chiron, M; Rao, S; Radošević, R; Yang, Z-Y; Nabel, GJ (2019). "Trispecific antibodies enhance the therapeutic efficacy of tumor-directed T cells through T cell receptor co-stimulation". Nat Cancer. 1: 86–98. doi:10.1038/s43018-019-0004-z.
  28. ↑ Xu, L; Pegu, A; Rao, E; Doria-Rose, N; Beninga, J; McKee, K; Lord, DM; Wei, RR; Deng, G; Louder, M; Schmidt, SD; Mankoff, Z; Wu, L; Asokan, M; Beil, C; Lange, C; Leuschner, WD; Kruip, J; Sendak, R; Kwon, YD; Zhou, T; Chen, X; Bailer, RT; Wang, K; Choe, M; Tartaglia, LJ; Barouch, DH; O'Dell, S; Todd, JP; Burton, DR; Roederer, M; Connors, M; Koup, RA; Kwong, PD; Yang, ZY; Mascola, JR; Nabel, GJ (Oct 2017). "Trispecific broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies mediate potent SHIV protection in macaques". Science. 358 (6359): 85–90. doi:10.1126/science.aan8630. PMC   5978417 . PMID   28931639.
  29. 1 2 Infections, Institute of Medicine (US) Forum on Emerging; Knobler, Stacey L.; Mahmoud, Adel AF; Pray, Leslie A. (2002), "Forum Member, Speaker, and Staff Biographies", Biological Threats and Terrorism: Assessing The Science and Response Capabilities: Workshop Summary, National Academies Press (US), retrieved 2024-11-24
  30. ↑ "Leadership". OPKO Health, Inc. 2024. Retrieved 2024-11-24.
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