Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research

Pedro MM Mesquita

Biography

 Dr. Mesquita is a virologist with extensive experience in HIV and STI prevention. His research focuses on developing and optimizing in vitro and ex vivo models to evaluate drug safety and efficacy. He developed a dual-chamber model system to explore the safety of microbicides by examining their impact on the epithelial barrier. This model has proven predictive of microbicide safety, was recently adopted by the NIH as part of their recommended safety algorithm and will be available through the NIH Contract Office to evaluate new microbicides. In addition, Dr. Mesquita adapted this dual-chamber model to evaluate the ability of microbicides to traverse the epithelial barrier (bioavailability) and developed a novel co-culture method to assess drug pharmacodynamics in cervical and vaginal tissue samples from human and non-human origin (rabbit, sheep and non-human primates) ex vivo.            

Research Interest

 Dapivirine; Vaginal ring; HIV prevention; Microbicide; Pharmacokinetics; Women-initiated; Safety