Mauricio Martins was born and raised in Minas Gerais, Brazil. After studying biology in college in his hometown of Belo Horizonte, he moved to the United States to pursue a Ph.D. in Immunology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was introduced to nonhuman primate (NHP) models of HIV/AIDS at the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center. After defending his Ph.D., he sought warmer climates and landed in South Florida as a postdoc at the University of Miami. He continued working with NHP models of HIV/AIDS and his postdoc research provided new insights into the immunological basis of elite control of SIV infection. Later, when he became an independent investigator, Dr. Martins’s work led to the development of a vaccine modality that protected rhesus macaques against challenge with a highly pathogenic SIV clone. Dr. Martins is currently an associate professor at the Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, a branch of the University of Florida. His lab continues to work on the development HIV immune interventions, with a focus on gene therapies for promoting persistent in vivo expression of HIV biologics in vulnerable populations.
