Jennifer Maynard

Research Interests

• Biotechnology
• Protein therapeutics
• Vaccine development
• Applied immunology
• Microbiology

Research Focus
Jennifer Maynard's lab develops protein therapeutics and vaccines to address unmet medical needs in infectious diseases. These proteins aim to directly interfere with disease progression or augment essential immune system activities. To do this, they design a candidate protein with an emphasis on engineering the kinetics with which it interacts with other proteins, as well as targeting protein transport to specific tissues in the body. This is followed by protein expression and purification to make the protein; biophysical, biochemical and cellular analyses to elucidate the molecular basis of activity; and, ultimately, in vitro and in vivo experiments to evaluate the protein’s ability to prevent disease.

Maynard's specific research goals include understanding mechanisms of protective immunity and using this information to engineer more effective vaccines and therapeutics and reverse engineering pathogenic strategies used by bacterial pathogens for biomedical and biotechnological applications. She is also interested in controlling cellular immunity through manipulation of T cell receptor-peptide MHC interactions. and applying protein engineering approaches to issues in structural biology.

Awards & Honors

• National Academy of Inventors (NAI), Senior Member, 2023
• Fellow of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineers, 2017
• Inaugural University of Texas “Emerging Inventor of the Year” Award, 2015
• Bill & Melinda Gates Grand Challenge Awards, 2009, 2016
• Texas Exes Teaching Award for the Cockrell School of Engineering, 2012
• Most Outstanding Professor in Chemical Engineering, Student Engineering Council, 2010
• Packard Fellowship, David and Lucile Packard Foundation, 2005
• Dreyfus New Faculty Award, 2003
• National Research Service Award, National Institutes of Health (NIH), 2002-2004

Related Websites
Maynard Lab

SELECT PUBLICATIONS