Nicole Naiman's dissertation research in Molecular and Cellular Biology follows a sustained research trajectory focusing on HIV that began as an undergraduate at The Ohio State University and as a postbaccalaureate fellow at the NIH. Under the mentorship of Dr. Julie Overbaugh at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Nicole’s Ph.D. research focused on mother-to-child HIV transmission. Nicole mapped HIV epitopes recognized by maternal antibodies and defined those that were protective and, unexpectedly, identified epitopes that when targeted by antibodies are actually associated with worse outcomes and that should therefore be avoided when considering vaccine and therapeutic strategies.