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Kevin J Wiehe

Norman L. Letvin Associate Professor in Medicine
Medicine, Duke Human Vaccine Institute
106 Research Dr, MSRBII Box 103020, Durham, NC 27710

Overview


Dr. Kevin Wiehe is the director of research, director of computational biology and co-director of the Quantitative Research Division at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI). He has over 20 years of experience in the field of computational biology and has expertise in computational structural biology, computational genomics, and computational immunology.

For the past decade, he has applied his unique background to developing computational approaches for studying the B cell response in both the infection and vaccination settings. He has utilized his expertise in computational structural biology to structurally model and characterize HIV and influenza antibody recognition. Dr. Wiehe has utilized his expertise in computational genomics and computational immunology to develop software to analyze large scale next generation sequencing data of antibody repertoires as well as develop computational programs for estimating antibody mutation probabilities. Dr. Wiehe has shown that low probability antibody mutations can act as rate-limiting steps in the development of broadly neutralizing antibodies in HIV.

Through his PhD, postdoc work, and now his roles at DHVI, Dr. Wiehe always approaches the analysis and the scientific discovery process from a structural biology perspective. Supporting the Duke Center for HIV Structural Biology (DCHSB), Dr. Wiehe will conduct antibody sequence analysis for antibodies used in computational and molecular modeling analyses conducted.

Current Duke Appointments & Affiliations


Norman L. Letvin Associate Professor in Medicine · 2023 - Present Medicine, Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Medicine
Associate Professor in Medicine · 2021 - Present Medicine, Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Medicine
Member of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute · 2014 - Present Duke Human Vaccine Institute, Institutes and Centers

Recent News Items


Published May 13, 2024
Vaccine Approach to HIV Works Like a GPS
Published May 9, 2024
New Vaccine Approach for HIV Works Like GPS
Published November 6, 2020
Years in the Making: Duke Human Vaccine Institute Researchers Attack COVID-19

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Recent Scholarly Works


Induction of broadly neutralizing HIV antibodies by a two-step mechanism informs vaccine design.

Journal article Science · June 18, 2026 A major obstacle confronting HIV-1 vaccine and cure research is the lack of an outbred animal model for rapid and consistent induction of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs). We designed an epitope-focused simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV.5MUT ... Full text Link to item Cite

Env-antibody coevolution identifies B cell priming as the principal bottleneck to HIV V2 apex broadly neutralizing antibody development.

Journal article Sci Immunol · February 13, 2026 Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) are rarely elicited during HIV-1 infection. To identify obstacles to bNAb development, we longitudinally studied 122 rhesus macaques infected by 1 of 16 different simian-human immunodeficiency viruses (SHIVs). We ide ... Full text Link to item Cite

Rapidly acquired HIV-1 neutralization breadth in a rhesus V2 apex knockin mouse model after a single bolus immunization.

Journal article Sci Immunol · February 13, 2026 Current immunization strategies to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) against HIV-1 generally propose complex, multiboost regimens. In rhesus macaques, simian-human immunodeficiency virus (SHIV) infection rapidly drives the development of some ... Full text Link to item Cite
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Recent Grants


Investigating the development and contribution of individual plasma B cells to broad HIV serum neutralization

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Institutes of Health · 2026 - 2031

Persistent Immunogenicity of IDLV delivering membrane tethered Native-Like HIV-1 Envelope Trimers

ResearchInvestigator · Awarded by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases · 2025 - 2030

Translating germline-targeting HIV Env SOSIP immunization of infants: targeting bnAbs in early life

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Weill Cornell Medicine · 2025 - 2030

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Education


Boston University · 2007 Ph.D.