Dr. Roland Strong is a biophysicist who uses protein engineering and structural biology — capturing the 3D shapes of proteins at their atomic level — to better understand the microscopic players that make up our immune systems. He works to both advance our basic knowledge of immunity and engineer proteins that could form the basis of new therapies or vaccines for cancer, HIV and other diseases. He led the development of Daedalus, a rapid protein-production system that supports preclinical studies at the Hutch and the University of Washington. Dr. Strong’s work has shed light on the molecular barriers to developing an effective HIV vaccine and pointed to improvements on vaccine design for infectious diseases, including HIV, using a computational approach.