About Us

Our Mission: To develop vaccines and therapeutics against diseases of global importance while training the next generation of scientists

Our Values: The DHVI supports the development of vaccines and therapeutics through a commitment to Innovation, Collaboration and Excellence.

Innovation through ingenuity and the pursuit of continuous improvement
Collaboration through embracing change and cultivating diversity to achieve synergy
Excellence through a commitment to respect, integrity and safety


The Duke Human Vaccine Institute (DHVI) continues to lead with cutting edge vaccine research against infectious diseases that impact global health. The investigators at DHVI conduct basic and translational research to develop novel vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for diseases such as HIV-1, tuberculousis, influenza, malaria, ebola, zika, cytomegalovirus and most recently, SARS-CoV-2. Several DHVI investigator led basic science discoveries that are currently being produced in Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facilities for early phase vaccine trials.

Over the years, the DHVI has made innovative discoveries in the field of HIV-1 vaccine development. One challenge is that current HIV-1 vaccine candidates have been unable to induce adequate amounts of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs). DHVI investigators have led efforts for driving subdominant broad neutralizing antibody (BnAb) lineages for vaccine strategies using the membrane bound trimer, as well as intermediate and minimal immunogens. Additionally, DHVI investigators are using novel approaches to expand the induction of bnAbs.

Click here to check out our Year in Review Newsletter for 2019-2020.