Publications

Sets out the Keystone Epitope Theory: persistent, human-adapted pathogens focus postnatal immune memory on conserved epitopes in the tissue niches where viral control happens, and that focusing shapes susceptibility to drug hypersensitivity, autoimmunity and transplant rejection.

Uses HIV as the primary model to separate mechanisms of HLA-associated viral adaptation, extends the argument to HCV, influenza, SARS-CoV-2 and tumor immunoediting, and derives three principles for vaccine design: prioritize epitopes whose substitutions carry measurable fitness costs, avoid immunogens dominated by mutable targets, and account for presentation context and inhibitory NK signaling when choosing epitopes.

A book chapter placing the immunogenetics of two pandemics in the wider frame of biological and cultural coevolution.