Dr. Xiangpeng Kong

Biography

Xiangpeng Kong is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology at NYU Langone Health. His research focuses on the global challenges associated with the HIV/AIDS pandemic, particularly in the development of safe and effective HIV vaccines through innovative approaches in biomolecular medicine. Kong employs a reverse-engineering strategy for vaccine discovery, leveraging broadly reactive human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to understand their structures and the complex cognate epitopes they target. His work emphasizes the importance of 3D visualization of HIV epitopes in designing immunogens that can elicit a cross-reactive polyclonal antibody response in mammals. In collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of immunologists, vaccinologists, and computational biologists, Dr. Kong has characterized an extensive panel of anti-HIV-1 mAbs that specifically target various epitope regions. His findings have provided critical insights into the structural basis of broad reactivity, guiding the design of immunogens that focus antibody responses on selected epitopic regions tested in animal models including mice, rabbits, and macaques. Overall, Dr. Kong's contributions to the field aim to unfold new strategies in the creation of effective vaccines against HIV/AIDS and potentially other related diseases.

Research Interests