DeAnna J. Friedman-Klabanoff, MD, MS

University of Wisconsin-Madison, B.S., Medical Microbiology and Immunology, 2004

University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, M.D., 2009

Residency, University of Minnesota, Pediatrics, 2012

Fellowship, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, 2019

University of Maryland, Baltimore, M.S., Epidemiology and Clinical Research, 2023

Dr. Friedman-Klabanoff is a board-certified pediatric infectious disease specialist with a primary research interest in malaria vaccine development and natural and vaccine-induced immunity to Plasmodium falciparum, the most common and deadly cause of malaria worldwide. She has helped to lead multiple Phase 1 clinical trials of malaria and vector-borne disease vaccines. She also utilizes peptide microarray technologies to examine humoral immune responses, most recently to study vaccine-induced responses to a full-length circumsporozoite protein based vaccine, supported by the NIH Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Unit, and to examine natural immunity to the pre-erythrocytic stages of malaria and protection from infection in a cohort of children in Malawi, supported by a K23 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases under the mentorship of Dr. Miriam Laufer. The overall goal of these projects is to examine the fine specificity and in vitro functional activity of pre-erythrocytic antibodies to refine future malaria vaccine efforts. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Friedman-Klabanoff expanded her research to also study the use of serological assays to track the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the community through the COVID-19 Community Research Partnership. She also conducts vaccine trials for malaria, mosquito-borne diseases, and SARS-CoV-2. 

Malaria, malaria vaccine development, humoral immunity, SARS-CoV-2 serology, clinical vaccine trials, peptide microarray, human challenge studies, controlled human infection

Friedman-Klabanoff DJ, Berry AA, Travassos MA, Shriver M, Cox C, Butts J, Lundeen JS, Strauss KA, Joshi S, Shrestha B, Mo AX, Nomicos EYH, Deye GA, Regules JA, Bergmann-Leitner ES, Pasetti MF, Laurens MB. Recombinant full-length Plasmodium falciparum circumsporozoite protein-based vaccine adjuvanted with GLA-LSQ: Results of Phase 1 testing with malaria challenge. J Infect Dis. 2024 Feb 8:jiae062. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae062. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38330357.

Friedman-Klabanoff DJ, Adu-Gyasi D, Asante KP. Malaria prevention in children: an update. Curr Opin Pediatr. 2024 Jan 23. doi: 10.1097/MOP.0000000000001332. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38299986.

Friedman-Klabanoff DJ, Birkhold M, Short MT, Wilson TR, Meneses CR, Lacsina JR, Oliveira F, Kamhawi S, Valenzuela JG, Hunsberger S, Mateja A, Stoloff G, Pleguezuelos O, Memoli MJ, Laurens MB. Safety and immunogenicity of AGS-v PLUS, a mosquito saliva peptide vaccine against arboviral diseases: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 1 trial. EBioMedicine. 2022 Nov 24;86:104375. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104375. Online ahead of print. PMID: 36436281.

Friedman-Klabanoff DJ, Fitzpatrick MC, Deming ME, Agrawal V, Sitar S, Schaafsma T, Brown E, Neuzil KM, Barnabas RV, Laufer MK; Hydroxychloroquine COVID-19 PEP Study Team. Risk of SARS-CoV-2 acquisition is associated with individual exposure but not community-level transmission. J Infect Dis. 2022 Feb 2:jiac029. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiac029. Online ahead of print. PMID: 35134185.

Friedman-Klabanoff DJ, Berry AA, Travassos MA, Cox C, Zhou Y, Mo AX, Nomicos EYH, Deye GA, Pasetti MF, Laurens MB. Low dose recombinant full-length circumsporozoite protein-based Plasmodium falciparum vaccine is well-tolerated and highly immunogenic in Phase 1 first-in-human clinical testing. 2021 Feb 22;39(8): 1195-1200. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.12.023. Epub 2021 Jan 22. PMID: 33494963.

Friedman-Klabanoff DJ, Travassos MA, Ifeonu OO, Agrawal S, Ouattara A, Pike A, Bailey JA, Adams M, Coulibaly D, Lyke KE, Laurens MB, Takala-Harrison S, Kouriba B, Kone AK, Doumbo OK, Patel JJ, Thera MA, Felgner PL, Tan JC, Plowe CV, Berry AA. Epitope-specific antibody responses to a Plasmodium falciparum subunit vaccine target in a malaria-endemic population. J Infect Dis. 2021 Jun 4;223(11): 1943-1947. doi:10.1093/infdis/jiaa611. PMID: 32992328.

Friedman-Klabanoff DJ, Laurens MB, Berry AA, Travassos MA, Adams M, Strauss KA, Shrestha B, Levine MM, Edelman R, Lyke KE. The controlled human malaria infection experience at the University of Maryland. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 2019; 100(3): 556-565.