Jonathan D. Herman , M.D., Ph.D.
- Assistant Professor-in-Residence, Infectious Diseases
Research Areas
Jonathan D. Herman, M.D., Ph.D., is a physician-scientist who investigates how the human immune system protects itself against infectious diseases. His research focuses on understanding vaccine-induced and natural immunity to pathogens like malaria, with the goal of developing new vaccines and therapies to prevent and treat infections.
Herman employs advanced systems biology techniques to study how the human humoral immune system — specifically antibodies and B cells — responds to infections. His research program centers around analyzing these immune responses to develop effective vaccines and treatments for infectious diseases such as malaria, COVID-19 and HIV.
He utilizes and develops systems-level tools to understand the human humoral immune system and then engineer it to protect patients from infectious disease. His current methodologies include systems serology to study Fc- and Fab-driven antibody responses; phage-display immunoprecipitation sequencing (PhIP-Seq) to measure whole-proteome anti-pathogen antibody responses; and the development of new antibody and B-cell technologies to interrogate antigen-specific responses at a massive scale.
By integrating these findings, Herman aims to inform the design of next-generation vaccines and immunotherapies that can provide robust protection against malaria and other infectious diseases, ultimately improving global health outcomes.
Research Projects
- Utilizing systems serology and other systems antibody immunology tools to understand protective immunity against malaria
- Developing phage-display immunoprecipitation and other antibodyomics tools to study comprehensive antibody responses to malaria and other pathogens
- Engineering novel technologies to measure B cell antigen specificity en masse
- Employing organoid 3D tissue grown from stem cells to replicate aspects of the structure and function of an organ. By modeling how multiple types of cells interact in biologically-relevant structures, these models help researchers understand how human organs develop, age and respond to disease in more detail than 2D cultures. organoid 3D tissue grown from stem cells to replicate aspects of the structure and function of an organ. By modeling how multiple types of cells interact in biologically-relevant structures, these models help researchers understand how human organs develop, age and respond to disease in more detail than 2D cultures. models of disease and of humoral immune responses to investigate protective immunity against malaria
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Medical Board Certifications
- Infectious Disease, American Board of Internal Medicine, 2021
- Internal Medicine, American Board of Internal Medicine, 2019
Fellowship
- Infectious Disease and Immunology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2021
Residency
- Internal Medicine, New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, 2018
Degree
- M.D., Harvard Medical School, 2016
- Ph.D., Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Harvard Medical School, 2014