Todd M. Allen

Todd MacKenzie Allen
Born1970 (1970)
Canada
DiedSeptember 11, 2024(2024-09-11) (aged 53–54)
CitizenshipCanada, United States
EducationWaterloo University; University of Wisconsin-Madison
Scientific career
FieldsImmunology, Virology, HIV
WorkplacesRagon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, Harvard University

Todd Mackenzie Allen (1970 – 2024) was a Canadian-born immunologist and virologist at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard, and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard University. He was a specialist in HIV vaccine design and the sequence evolution and diversity of HIV and hepatitis C virus (HCV). Towards the end of his career, his work was focused on developing novel immunotherapeutic approaches towards a functional cure of HIV, including chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy and gene editing approaches capable of protecting against HIV infection.

Early life and education

Allen, the son of American parents, was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. He received his bachelor of science (BSc) in Biochemistry at the University of Waterloo before completing his PhD degree in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Wisconsin – Madison studying T cell responses in the SIV infected macaque model of HIV infection. In 2001, he moved to Boston to join the Partners AIDS Research Center (now the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard).

Research and career

In 2014, Allen was promoted to Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School (HMS). His laboratory at the Ragon Institute was focused on identifying protective immunity to HIV and Hepatitis C virus (HCV). He was a faculty member of the Harvard Virology PhD program and in 2013 was awarded the Massachusetts General Hospital Research Scholars Award, providing philanthropic support for his research program. Over the course of his career, he published over 180 peer-reviewed papers on HIV and HCV. His work used humanized mouse models to accelerate development and testing of novel immunotherapies for HIV, including most recently the design of a novel Dual CAR T cell capable of controlling HIV

Death

In September 11, 2024, Allen died from a heart attack.

Selected publications

References

  1. ↑ "Allen". Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard. April 26, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Todd Allen, PhD, MGH Research Scholar Profile". Massachusetts General Hospital.
  3. ↑ "Todd M. Allen - Google Scholar". scholar.google.com. Retrieved 2020-08-31.
  4. ↑ "A Better Model for HIV Vaccine Testing - Mass General Giving". Massachusetts General Hospital Giving. June 5, 2013.
  5. ↑ Maldini, Colby R.; Claiborne, Daniel T.; Okawa, Ken; Chen, Tao; Dopkin, Derrick L.; Shan, Xiaochuan; Power, Karen A.; Trifonova, Radiana T.; Krupp, Katharine; Phelps, Meredith; Vrbanac, Vladimir D.; Tanno, Serah; Bateson, Timothy; Leslie, George J.; Hoxie, James A.; Boutwell, Christian L.; Riley, James L.; Allen, Todd M. (August 31, 2020). "Dual CD4-based CAR T cells with distinct costimulatory domains mitigate HIV pathogenesis in vivo". Nature Medicine. 26 (11): 1776–1787. doi:10.1038/s41591-020-1039-5. PMC 9422086. PMID 32868878. S2CID 221403688.
  6. ↑ Hutchins, Robert (2024-09-13). "Dr. Todd M. Allen". Rogers Funeral Home. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  7. 1 2 3 Scholar user profile page