About the grantee

She holds a joint appointment as Honorary Senior Scientist at the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research (CAPRISA), University of Kwazulu-Natal. Moore directs a team of more than 20 scientists, three post-docs and 14 postgraduate students working in HIV and SARS-CoV-2 vaccine discovery, combining virology, immunology, and bioinformatics. The team has expanded its scope to include Ebola, Influenza, Cytomegalovirus and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). Moore focuses on mentorship and capacity development, having supervised 18 Honors students, 27 MSc students and 13 PhD students in her lab and at other African institutes. She has published more than 180 papers, predominantly on HIV and SARS-CoV-2 antibody response and viral escape. She has an H-factor of 47 and hold a South African National Research Foundation B1 rating. Moore has made key findings to defining how broadly neutralizing antibodies develop, which contributed to the development of HIV vaccine design. She has also made significant additions to understanding viral sensitivity and escape from broadly neutralizing antibodies. Moore and her team have built on their work studying SARS-CoV-2 binding antibodies, neutralizing antibodies and Fc effector function in convalescent and vaccine sera with a focus on SARS-CoV-2 variants to COVID-19.  

Research Summary  

GIISER-SA aims to establish immunological surveillance and develop immunodiagnostics for locally and regionally relevant pathogens, with an additional focus on training and capacity augmentation within the GIISER network.