OHTN Profile: Kelly MacDonald

Kelly MacDonald

Dr. Kelly MacDonald holds the U of T / OHTN Endowed Chair in HIV Research and is the Director of the HIV Research Program and an Associate Professor of Medicine Immunology, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at in the Department of Medicine at the University of Toronto. She is also a Microbiologist and Infectious Disease physician at Mount Sinai Hospital. She completed her medical degree at the University of Manitoba and trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Washington.

Research

As a clinician-scientist, Kelly focuses her research on host genetic and pathogen-driven variation in host immune response to HIV and its application in vaccine design. She was a founding board member of the OHTN and served for six years. She has also served on the Federal Ministerial Council on HIV/AIDS and as Chair of the HIV Vaccine Program of the Canadian Vaccine Network. 

Kelly was the first researcher to hold the Chair in HIV Research, funded in part by the OHTN and the first such chair dedicated to HIV in the country. She has held the post for eight years.  

Her research includes the following OHTN grants: 

  • Qualitative Differences in CD8 Effector Function, Impact on HIV Immune Selection (2005-2006)
  • Using the Molecular Structure of Virus-Neutralizing HIV Epitopes to Custom Design Effective Synthetic Vaccines (2004-2007)
  • Impact of HIV-1 Specific Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses on Incident HIV-1 Infection in a Cohort of Highly Exposed Uninfected Sex Workers (1998-2002)
  • Interaction & specificity of Cellular & Humoral Immune Responses in HIV-1 Exposed Uninfected Individuals (1998-2002)

Recent Publications

  1. Ambagala AP, Marsh AK, Chan JK, Mason R, Pilon R, Fournier J, Sandstrom P, Willer DO, MacDonald KS. Establishment of an immortal cynomolgus macaque fibroblast cell line for propagation of CyCMV (Accepted, Archives of Virology)
  2. Angie K. Marsh, David O. Willer, Olena Skokovets, Oluwadamilola H. Iwajomo, Jacqueline K. Chan, and Kelly S. MacDonald. Evaluation of Cynomolgus Macaque Endogenous Retrovirus Expression following Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Infection PLoS One June 2012, Vol 7, (6) e40158
  3. Willer DO, Ambagala APN, Pilon R, Chan J, Fournier J, Brooks J, Sandstrom P, MacDonald KS. Experimental Infection of Cynomolgus Macaques (Macaca fascicularis) with human Varicella Zoster Virus (VZV) J. Virol. 2012 April; 86(7):3626-3634
  4. Marsh, A., Willer, D. O., Dzamba, M., Ambagala, A. P., Chan, J. K., Brudno, M., MacDonald, K. S. Genomic Sequencing and Characterization of a Novel Cynomolgus Macaque Cytomegalovirus. J.Virol. 2011 December; 85(24):12995-13009
  5. Ambagala AP, Marsh A, Chan J, Pilon R, Fournier J, Mazzulli T, Sandstrom P, Willer DO, MacDonald KS. Isolation and Characterization of Cynomolgus Macaque (Macaca fascicularis) Cytomegalovirus (CyCMV) Virology. 2011 March 30; 412 (1): 125-135
  6. Foster SB, Lu M, Thompson B, Rich KC, Matukas LM, Mason R, Winchester R, MacDonald KS, Shearer WT. Association between HLA inheritance and asthma in HIV-infected children. AIDS. 2010 Aug 24;24(13):2133-5
  7. Kaul R, MacDonald KS, Nagelkerke NJ, Kimani J, Fowke K, Ball TB, Luo M, Kariri A, Jaoko W, Moses S, Rowland-Jones S, Plummer FA. HIV viral set point and host immune control in individuals with HIV-specific CD8+ T cell responses to HIV acquisition. AIDS. 2010 Jun 19;24(10):1449-54
  8. Willer DO, Guan Y, Luscher MA, Li B, Pilon R, Fournier J, Parenteau M, Wainberg MA, Sandstrom P, MacDonald KS. Multi Low-Dose MucosalSIV mac239 Challenge of Cynomolgus macaques Immunized with "Hyper-Attenuated" SIV Constructs. J Virol. 2010 Mar;84(5):2304-17
  9. Jones RB, Yue FY, Gu XX, Hunter DV, Mujib S, Gyenes G, Mason RD, Mohamed R, MacDonald KS, Kovacs C, Ostrowski MA. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 escapes from interlukin-2 producing CD4+ T-cell responses without high-frequency fixation of mutations. J Virol. 2009 Sep;83(17):8722-32
  11. Coinfection with herpes simplex virus type 2 is associated with reduced HIV-specific T cell responses and systemic immune activation. (PI-PM. Sheth) 2008
  12. Mucosal Neisseria gonorrhoeae coinfection during HIV acquisition is associated with enhanced systemic HIV-specific CD8 T-cell responses. (PI-A. Sheung) 2008
  13. The genital tract immune milieu: An important determinant of HIV susceptibility and secondary transmission. (PI-R. Kaul) 2007
  14. Conflicting selective forces affect T cell receptor contacts in an immunodominant human immunodeficiency virus epitope. (PI-AK. Iversen) 2006
  15. Disproportionately high semen shedding of HIV is associated with compartmentalized cytomegalovirus reactivation. (PI-PM. Sheth) 2006

Impact

Kelly’s work has challenged conventional thinking in medical research to find a vaccine for the HIV virus. Her investigations into the potential role of immune responses and the factors that protect children from being infected by their mothers has opened new frontiers in the field, and changed the way that other vaccine studies are approached. She is committed to working across disciplines to study the virus and understand the intricacies of the epidemic and how to stop it. Recognized internationally as a leading scientist, she has worked in both North America and Africa, and is a mentor and guide to a new generation of researchers.