Biography
In graduate school at the University of Washington, Dr. Zandrea Ambrose studied the early events of intravaginal SHIV infection of pigtailed macaques and the efficacy of a prime-boost vaccine to induce mucosal immunity and protect animals from intravaginal SHIV challenge. She was awarded the Warren G. Magnuson Scholarship and Outstanding Student of the Year in the UW School of Public Health and Community Medicine.
As a postdoctoral and research fellow at the National Cancer Institute, she developed a novel RT-SHIVmne model in pigtailed macaques to study HIV-1 drug resistance and latency/persistence during combination antiretroviral therapy. In addition, she studied a candidate intravaginal microbicide in the SIVmac251 rhesus macaque model and collaborated on research to develop and characterize a simian-tropic HIV-1 with minimal SIV sequences in macaques. Also at NCI, Dr. Ambrose performed several molecular and cellular virology projects to study early infection events of the HIV-1 life cycle (mainly involving reverse transcriptase and capsid), which could be exploited as novel drug targets, and mechanisms of drug resistance.
As a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh Schools of Medicine and Public Health, she has continued to use macaque models as well as humanized mouse models to study HIV-1 transmission, evolution, co-infections (M. tuberculosis and hepatitis B virus), and therapeutic interventions. Her laboratory also performs basic virology studies and uses live-cell, confocal, and super resolution fluorescence microscopy techniques to study the early steps of HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Dr. Ambrose is a member of the Pittsburgh Center for HIV Protein Interactions, Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine, Center for Vaccine Research, and Hillman Cancer Virology Program.
Dr. Ambrose has served in the PhD Program in Microbiology and Immunology (PMI) since its inception as a member of the Admissions Committee (2017-2020), Associate Director (2021-2023), and Director (2023-2025).
Education and Training
Current Appointments and Positions
Vice Chair for Graduate Education, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine
Professor with Tenure, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, School of Medicine (primary)
Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, Graduate School of Public Health (secondary)
Director, Graduate Program in Microbiology and Immunology (PMI), School of Medicine
Member, Graduate Program in Integrative Systems Biology (ISB), School of Medicine
Member, School of Medicine Executive Committee
Executive Committee, Pittsburgh Center for HIV Protein Interactions (PCHPI)
Member, Center for Evolutionary Biology and Medicine (CEBaM)
