Paula Cannon, Ph.D.

Distinguished Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology
Keck School of Medicine of USC

Paula Cannon, PhD, is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology in the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on the use of gene editing technologies such as CRISPR/Cas9 to manipulate hematopoietic cells, with the goal of developing novel treatments for HIV. Most recently, her group has been editing human and macaque B cells to express completely customized antibodies, including antibodies with broadly neutralizing activity against HIV. Such a platform could turn B cells into factories in the body to secrete antibodies with desirable properties, including those that are not easily generated by vaccination. In this way, her work complements ongoing studies aimed at identifying regimens of broadly neutralizing antibodies that could provide long-term suppression of HIV.