Huber, Victor

• Postdoctoral Fellow, Infectious Diseases, St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN

•  Postdoctoral Fellow, Immunology, Wadsworth Center, Albany, NY 

• Ph.D., Medical College of Ohio, Toledo, OH B.S., 

• Biology, Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD

Victor Huber received his training in both immunology and virology, and uses this background to model more effective vaccines against influenza viruses. Specifically, Dr. Huber is using a technique known as DNA shuffling to generate influenza vaccines that protect against both swine and human-origin influenza A H1N1 viruses. The long term goal of this project is to develop universal vaccines that can induce broad immunity, and prevent future pandemics.

 In addition, Dr. Huber is working with a multi-disciplinary group of scientists at the Sanford School of Medicine and elsewhere on a model of secondary bacterial infections that lead to mortality associated with influenza viruses. The team utilizes clinically relevant approaches to define the contributions of vaccine-induced immunity toward limiting secondary bacterial infections. Specifically, they are focusing on host, viral, and bacterial contributions toward the development and prevention of these devastating super-infections. These efforts include influenza virus surveillance within swine populations for evidence of changes in circulating viruses that may predict interspecies transmission events that are associated with pandemics.