Sang-Moo Kang
Faculty Distinguished University Professor Institute for Biomedical Sciences- Education
Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, 1998
- Biography
Sang-Moo Kang, a Distinguished University Professor at Georgia State University, is focused on research to design and develop effective vaccines against viral diseases such as influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19). The research projects aim to understand vaccine-induced protective immune correlates, study pathogen-induced inflammation, and develop anti-inflammatory therapeutics. The research is significant for developing universal flu vaccines and vaccination strategies, understanding vaccine-induced protective immune mechanisms, and aging impact on immunity.
Kang earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Alabama.
Research Interests
Universal influenza virus vaccines
mRNA vaccine technology
Vaccines against human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)
Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19)
My research interests focus on developing effective vaccines against viral diseases (Influenza virus, RSV, SARS-CoV-2) and better understanding vaccine-induced immunity and protective immune mechanisms.
Focus area: Vaccine design and development; Immunology of vaccine adjuvants, Immune mechanisms of vaccine-induced protection in infants, adults and elderly; aging effects on immunity, mRNA vaccine technology.
Rationales and Significances of Focused Research Area:
- Significance in developing effective and universal flu vaccines and/or vaccination strategies. Influenza is a serious human disease. There are challenging problems in developing effective and cross-protecting influenza vaccines. We focus on universal influenza vaccines inducing multiple cross-protective immunity (HA, stalk, NA, M2e).
- The projects focus on understanding the immunologic impact of mRNA vaccine platforms (encapsulated within lipid nanoparticles).
- RSV vaccines: RSV is the leading cause of inflammatory bronchiolitis pneumonia in infants and the elderly.
- Better understanding the immune-enhancing effects of mRNA vaccine platforms.
- Defining protective innate and immune correlates of vaccine-induced immunity and protective immune mechanisms by use of conventional and systems approaches.
- Publications
Publications Selected
- Raha JR, Kim KH, Bhatnagar N, Liu R, Le CTT, Park BR, Grovenstein P, Pal SS, Ko EJ, Shin CH, Wang BZ, Kang SM. Supplementation of seasonal vaccine with multi-subtype neuraminidase and M2 ectodomain virus-like particle improves protection against homologous and heterologous influenza viruses in aged mice. Antiviral Res. 2024 May;225:105877. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2024.105877. Epub 2024 Mar 30. PubMed PMID: 38561077; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11023748.
- Chunhong Dong, Wandi Zhu, Lai Wei, Joo Kim, Yao Ma, Sang-Moo Kang, and Bao-Zhong Wang Enhancing cross-protection against influenza by heterologous sequential immunization with mRNA LNP and protein nanoparticle vaccines. Nat Commun 15, 5800 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-50087-5.
- Kim KH, Li Z, Bhatnagar N, Subbiah J, Park BR, Shin CH, Pushko P, Wang BZ, Kang SM. Universal protection against influenza viruses by multi-subtype neuraminidase and M2 ectodomain virus-like particle. PLoS Pathog. 2022 Aug;18(8):e1010755. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010755. eCollection 2022 Aug. PubMed PMID: 36006890; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9409530.
- Subbbiah J, Oh J, Kim KH, Shin CH, Park BR, Bhatnagar N, Jung YJ, Lee Y, Wang BZ, Seong BL, Kang SM. Thermostable H1 hemagglutinin stem with M2e epitopes provides broad cross-protection against group1 and 2 influenza A viruses. Mol Ther Methods Clin Dev. 2022 Sep 8;26:38-51. doi: 10.1016/j.omtm.2022.05.007. eCollection 2022 Sep 8. PubMed PMID: 35755946; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9198381.
- Subbiah J, Oh J, Kim KH, Shin CH, Park BR, Bhatnagar N, Seong BL, Wang BZ, Kang SM. A chimeric thermostable M2e and H3 stalk-based universal influenza A virus vaccine. NPJ Vaccines. 2022 Jun 29;7(1):68. doi: 10.1038/s41541-022-00498-6. PubMed PMID: 35768475; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9243060.
- Kim KH, Bhatnagar N, Subbiah J, Liu R, Pal SS, Raha JR, Grovenstein P, Shin CH, Wang BZ, Kang SM. Cross-protection against influenza viruses by chimeric M2e-H3 stalk protein or multi-subtype neuraminidase plus M2e virus-like particle vaccine in ferrets. 2024 Jul;595:110097. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2024.110097. Epub 2024 Apr 25. PubMed PMID: 38685171; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC11110495.
- Dong C, Ma Y, Zhu W, Wang Y, Kim J, Wei L, Gill HS, Kang SM, Wang BZ. Influenza immune imprinting synergizes PEI-HA/CpG nanoparticle vaccine protection against heterosubtypic infection in mice. Vaccine. 2024 Jan 12;42(2):111-119. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2023.12.039. Epub 2023 Dec 14. PubMed PMID: 38097456; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10842698.
- Le CTT, Ahn SY, Ho TL, Lee J, Lee DH, Hwang HS, Kang SM, Ko EJ. Adjuvant effects of combination monophosphoryl lipid A and poly I:C on antigen-specific immune responses and protective efficacy of influenza vaccines. Sci Rep. 2023 Jul 28;13(1):12231. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-39210-6. PubMed PMID: 37507413; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10382554.
- Bhatnagar N, Kim KH, Subbiah J, Muhammad-Worsham S, Park BR, Liu R, Grovenstein P, Wang BZ, Kang SM. Heterologous Prime-Boost Vaccination with Inactivated Influenza Viruses Induces More Effective Cross-Protection than Homologous Repeat Vaccination. Vaccines (Basel). 2023 Jul 6;11(7). doi: 10.3390/vaccines11071209. PubMed PMID: 37515025; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10386405.
- Park BR, Bommireddy R, Chung DH, Kim KH, Subbiah J, Jung YJ, Bhatnagar N, Pack CD, Ramachandiran S, Reddy SJC, Selvaraj P, Kang SM. Hemagglutinin virus-like particles incorporated with membrane-bound cytokine adjuvants provide protection against homologous and heterologous influenza virus challenge in aged mice. Immun Ageing. 2023 May 11;20(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s12979-023-00344-w. PubMed PMID: 37170231; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10173218.
- Park T, Hwang H, Moon S, Kang SG, Song S, Kim YH, Kim H, Ko EJ, Yoon SD, Kang SM, Hwang HS. Vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 variants and future pandemics. Expert Rev Vaccines. 2022 Oct;21(10):1363-1376. doi: 10.1080/14760584.2022.2110075. Epub 2022 Aug 12. Review. PubMed PMID: 35924678; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9979704.
- Bhatnagar N, Kim KH, Subbiah J, Park BR, Wang P, Gill HS, Wang BZ, Kang SM. Adjuvant Effects of a New Saponin Analog VSA-1 on Enhancing Homologous and Heterosubtypic Protection by Influenza Virus Vaccination. Vaccines (Basel). 2022 Aug 24;10(9). doi: 10.3390/vaccines10091383. PubMed PMID: 36146461; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC9501088.
- Bhatnagar N, Kim KH, Subbiah J, Park BR, Ko EJ, Seong BL, Kang SM. Comparison of the effects of different potent adjuvants on enhancing the immunogenicity and cross-protection by influenza virus vaccination in young and aged mice. Antiviral Res. 2022 Jan;197:105229. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2021.105229. Epub 2021 Dec 18. PubMed PMID: 34933043; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8801234.
- Park BR, Subbiah J, Kim KH, Kwon YM, Oh J, Kim MC, Shin CH, Seong BL, Kang SM. Enhanced cross protection by hetero prime-boost vaccination with recombinant influenza viruses containing chimeric hemagglutinin-M2e epitopes. Virology. 2022 Jan;566:143-152. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2021.12.003. Epub 2021 Dec 10. PubMed PMID: 34929590; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8903020.
- Jeeva S, Kim KH, Shin CH, Wang BZ, Kang SM. An Update on mRNA-Based Viral Vaccines. Vaccines (Basel). 2021 Aug 29;9(9). doi: 10.3390/vaccines9090965. Review. PubMed PMID: 34579202; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8473183.
- Kim KH, Lee YT, Park Y, Ko EJ, Jung YJ, Kim YJ, Jo EK, Kang SM. BCG Cell Wall Skeleton As a Vaccine Adjuvant Protects Both Infant and Old-Aged Mice from Influenza Virus Infection. Biomedicines. 2021 May 5;9(5). doi: 10.3390/biomedicines9050516. PubMed PMID: 34063125; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8148143.
- Park BR, Kim KH, Kotomina T, Kim MC, Kwon YM, Jeeva S, Jung YJ, Bhatnagar N, Isakova-Sivak I, Mezhenskaya D, Rudenko L, Wang BZ, Kang SM. Broad cross protection by recombinant live attenuated influenza H3N2 seasonal virus expressing conserved M2 extracellular domain in a chimeric hemagglutinin. Sci Rep. 2021 Feb 18;11(1):4151. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-83704-0. PubMed PMID: 33603072; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7893060.
- Kwon YM, Lee Y, Kim KH, Jung YJ, Li Z, Jeeva S, Lee S, Moore ML, Kang SM. Antigenicity and immunogenicity of unique prefusion-mimic F proteins presented on enveloped virus-like particles. 2019 Oct 16;37(44):6656-6664. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2019.09.041. Epub 2019 Sep 18. PubMed PMID: 31542260; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6893914.
- Kim KH, Lee YT, Park S, Jung YJ, Lee Y, Ko EJ, Kim YJ, Li X, Kang SM. Neuraminidase expressing virus-like particle vaccine provides effective cross protection against influenza virus. Virology. 2019 Sep;535:179-188. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2019.07.008. Epub 2019 Jul 8. PubMed PMID: 31310875; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6946909.
- Lee Y, Ko EJ, Kim KH, Lee YT, Hwang HS, Jung YJ, Jeeva S, Kwon YM, Seong BL, Kang SM. The efficacy of inactivated split respiratory syncytial virus as a vaccine candidate and the effects of novel combination adjuvants. Antiviral Res. 2019 Aug;168:100-108. doi: 10.1016/j.antiviral.2019.05.011. Epub 2019 May 28. PubMed PMID: 31150678; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6620154.
- Kim YJ, Kim KH, Ko EJ, Kim MC, Lee YN, Jung YJ, Lee YT, Kwon YM, Song JM, Kang SM. Complement C3 Plays a Key Role in Inducing Humoral and Cellular Immune Responses to Influenza Virus Strain-Specific Hemagglutinin-Based or Cross-Protective M2 Extracellular Domain-Based Vaccination. J Virol. 2018 Oct 15;92(20). doi: 10.1128/JVI.00969-18. Print 2018 Oct 15. PubMed PMID: 30068650; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6158440.
- Jae-Min Song, Nico Van Rooijen, Jadranka Bozja, Richard W. Compans, Sang-Moo Kang,Vaccination inducing broad cross protection against multiple subtypes of influenza A viruses. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2011, 108(2), 757-61