David Leggat, Ph.D.

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. David J Leggat is an academia and biotechnology experienced researcher in the field of Influenza vaccination and detection. Dr. Leggat received his Ph.D. from the University of Toledo Health Science Campus within the department of Medicine and the Infection, Immunity & Transplantation track studying pneumococcal vaccination in HIV and elderly patients. Expanding on his experience in flow cytometry, he joined the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institutes of Health as a post-doc where he drove HIV-specific B cell analysis for pre-clinical and clinical samples. He transitioned as a contract scientist within the Vaccine Immunology Program, leading the HIV-specific B cell analysis post-vaccination for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation funded studies with IAVI as part of the CAVD. These efforts resulted in the first-in-human demonstration of the germline targeting HIV vaccine strategy as well as the identification of vaccine-specific antibody secreting cells in blood and bone marrow.

Dr. Leggat joined MHRP as a government civilian in 2022 serving as a Section Chief for the Cellular Immune Monitoring and Flow Cytometry cores. He primarily focuses on the study of antigen-specific cellular responses in pre-clinical and clinical trials. He is currently focused on enhancing/utilizing MHRPs spectral flow cytometry analyzers and sorter.

Selected Publications

Prabhakaran M, Matassoli F, Leggat D, Hoover A, Srikanth A, Wu W, Henry AR, Wang J, Lin BC, Teng IT, Schramm CA, Castro M, Serebryannyy L, Jean-Baptiste N, Moore C, Gajjala S, Todd JM, McCarthy E, Narpala S, Francica J, Program VP, Corbett-Helaire KS, Douek DC, Kwong PD, Seder RA, Andrews SF, McDermott AB. Adjuvanted SARS-CoV-2 spike protein vaccination elicits long-lived plasma cells in nonhuman primates. Sci Transl Med. 2024 Jan 3;16(728):eadd5960. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.add5960. Epub 2024 Jan 3. PubMed PMID: 38170789.

Scholte LLS, Leggat DJ, Cohen KW, Hoeweler L, Erwin GC, Rahaman F, Lombardo A, Philiponis V, Laufer DS, Siefers H, Ruppel AM, Brand J, Maenza J, Bronson R, Prabhakaran M, Jean-Baptiste J, Kolokythas O, Desrosiers AA, Thoreson CK, Heit A, Khati NJ, Malkin E, McElrath MJ, McDermott AB, Schief WR, Diemert D, Bethony JM. Ultrasound-guided lymph node fine-needle aspiration for evaluating post-vaccination germinal center responses in humans. STAR Protoc. 2023 Sep 20;4(4):102576. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102576. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 37733596; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10519838.

Sankhala RS, Dussupt V, Donofrio G, Gromowski GD, De La Barrera RA, Larocca RA, Mendez-Rivera L, Lee A, Choe M, Zaky W, Mantus G, Jensen JL, Chen WH, Gohain N, Bai H, McCracken MK, Mason RD, Leggat D, Slike BM, Tran U, Jian N, Abbink P, Peterson R, Mendes EA, Freitas de Oliveira Franca R, Calvet GA, Bispo de Filippis AM, McDermott A, Roederer M, Hernandez M, Albertus A, Davidson E, Doranz BJ, Rolland M, Robb ML, Lynch RM, Barouch DH, Jarman RG, Thomas SJ, Modjarrad K, Michael NL, Krebs SJ, Joyce MG. Zika-specific neutralizing antibodies targeting inter-dimer envelope epitopes. Cell Rep. 2023 Aug 29;42(8):112942. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112942. Epub 2023 Aug 9. PubMed PMID: 37561630; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10775418.

Cohen KW, De Rosa SC, Fulp WJ, deCamp AC, Fiore-Gartland A, Mahoney CR, Furth S, Donahue J, Whaley RE, Ballweber-Fleming L, Seese A, Schwedhelm K, Geraghty D, Finak G, Menis S, Leggat DJ, Rahaman F, Lombardo A, Borate BR, Philiponis V, Maenza J, Diemert D, Kolokythas O, Khati N, Bethony J, Hyrien O, Laufer DS, Koup RA, McDermott AB, Schief WR, McElrath MJ. A first-in-human germline-targeting HIV nanoparticle vaccine induced broad and publicly targeted helper T cell responses. Sci Transl Med. 2023 May 24;15(697):eadf3309. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adf3309. Epub 2023 May 24. PubMed PMID: 37224227.

deCamp AC, Corcoran MM, Fulp WJ, Willis JR, Cottrell CA, Bader DLV, Kalyuzhniy O, Leggat DJ, Cohen KW, Hyrien O, Menis S, Finak G, Ballweber-Fleming L, Srikanth A, Plyler JR, Rahaman F, Lombardo A, Philiponis V, Whaley RE, Seese A, Brand J, Ruppel AM, Hoyland W, Mahoney CR, Cagigi A, Taylor A, Brown DM, Ambrozak DR, Sincomb T, Mullen TM, Maenza J, Kolokythas O, Khati N, Bethony J, Roederer M, Diemert D, Koup RA, Laufer DS, McElrath JM, McDermott AB, Hedestam GBK, Schief WR. Human immunoglobulin gene allelic variation impacts germline-targeting vaccine priming. medRxiv. 2023 Mar 15;. doi: 10.1101/2023.03.10.23287126. PubMed PMID: 36993183; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC10055468.

Leggat DJ, Cohen KW, Willis JR, Fulp WJ, deCamp AC, Kalyuzhniy O, Cottrell CA, Menis S, Finak G, Ballweber-Fleming L, Srikanth A, Plyler JR, Schiffner T, Liguori A, Rahaman F, Lombardo A, Philiponis V, Whaley RE, Seese A, Brand J, Ruppel AM, Hoyland W, Yates NL, Williams LD, Greene K, Gao H, Mahoney CR, Corcoran MM, Cagigi A, Taylor A, Brown DM, Ambrozak DR, Sincomb T, Hu X, Tingle R, Georgeson E, Eskandarzadeh S, Alavi N, Lu D, Mullen TM, Kubitz M, Groschel B, Maenza J, Kolokythas O, Khati N, Bethony J, Crotty S, Roederer M, Karlsson Hedestam GB, Tomaras GD, Montefiori D, Diemert D, Koup RA, Laufer DS, McElrath MJ, McDermott AB, Schief WR. Vaccination induces HIV broadly neutralizing antibody precursors in humans. Science. 2022 Dec 2;378(6623):eadd6502. doi: 10.1126/science.add6502. Epub 2022 Dec 2. PubMed PMID: 36454825.

Townsley SM, Leggat DJ, Prabhakaran M, McDermott AB, Krebs SJ. Sequential staining of HIV gp140 to capture antigen-specific human B cells via flow cytometry. STAR Protoc. 2021 Sep 17;2(3):100771. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2021.100771. eCollection 2021 Sep 17. PubMed PMID: 34471908; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8390768.

Townsley SM, Donofrio GC, Jian N, Leggat DJ, Dussupt V, Mendez-Rivera L, Eller LA, Cofer L, Choe M, Ehrenberg PK, Geretz A, Gift S, Grande R, Lee A, Peterson C, Piechowiak MB, Slike BM, Tran U, Joyce MG, Georgiev IS, Rolland M, Thomas R, Tovanabutra S, Doria-Rose NA, Polonis VR, Mascola JR, McDermott AB, Michael NL, Robb ML, Krebs SJ. B cell engagement with HIV-1 founder virus envelope predicts development of broadly neutralizing antibodies. Cell Host Microbe. 2021 Apr 14;29(4):564-578.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.01.016. Epub 2021 Mar 3. PubMed PMID: 33662277; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8245051.

Eslamizar L, Petrovas C, Leggat DJ, Furr K, Lifton ML, Levine G, Ma S, Fletez-Brant C, Hoyland W, Prabhakaran M, Narpala S, Boswell K, Yamamoto T, Liao HX, Pickup D, Ramsburg E, Sutherland L, McDermott A, Roederer M, Montefiori D, Koup RA, Haynes BF, Letvin NL, Santra S. Recombinant MVA-prime elicits neutralizing antibody responses by inducing antigen-specific B cells in the germinal center. NPJ Vaccines. 2021 Jan 25;6(1):15. doi: 10.1038/s41541-020-00277-1. PubMed PMID: 33495459; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7835239.

Dussupt V, Sankhala RS, Gromowski GD, Donofrio G, De La Barrera RA, Larocca RA, Zaky W, Mendez-Rivera L, Choe M, Davidson E, McCracken MK, Brien JD, Abbink P, Bai H, Bryan AL, Bias CH, Berry IM, Botero N, Cook T, Doria-Rose NA, Escuer AGI, Frimpong JA, Geretz A, Hernandez M, Hollidge BS, Jian N, Kabra K, Leggat DJ, Liu J, Pinto AK, Rutvisuttinunt W, Setliff I, Tran U, Townsley S, Doranz BJ, Rolland M, McDermott AB, Georgiev IS, Thomas R, Robb ML, Eckels KH, Barranco E, Koren M, Smith DR, Jarman RG, George SL, Stephenson KE, Barouch DH, Modjarrad K, Michael NL, Joyce MG, Krebs SJ. Potent Zika and dengue cross-neutralizing antibodies induced by Zika vaccination in a dengue-experienced donor. Nat Med. 2020 Feb;26(2):228-235. doi: 10.1038/s41591-019-0746-2. Epub 2020 Feb 3. PubMed PMID: 32015557; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7018608.

To view a complete list of Dr. Leggat’s publications, click here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1N59A_7tz8wQN/bibliography/public/