Mauricio Martins

Scripps Research Institute, USA

Mauricio Martins was born and raised in the highlands of Minas Gerais, Brazil. After studying biology in college in his hometown of Belo Horizonte, he moved to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. in Immunology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was introduced to nonhuman primate (NHP) models of HIV/AIDS at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. During his thesis, he characterized properties of efficacious T-cell responses against simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and developed and tested recombinant versions of the yellow fever vaccine virus 17D expressing SIV antigens in rhesus macaques. After defending his Ph.D., he sought warmer climates and landed in South Florida as a postdoc at the University of Miami. He continued working with NHP models of HIV/AIDS and his postdoc research provided new insights into the immunological basis of elite control of SIV infection. Later, as a junior faculty at the University of Miami, Dr. Martins’s work led to the development of a vaccine modality that protected rhesus macaques against challenge with a highly pathogenic SIV clone. Dr. Martins is currently an associate professor at the Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, a branch of the University of Florida located in Jupiter, FL. His lab continues to work on the development HIV immune interventions, with a focus on gene therapies for promoting persistent in vivo expression of HIV biologics in vulnerable populations.