Abstract: Methods and compositions are provided which employ chimeric polypeptides having at least one heterologous epitope for a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) neutralizing antibody. These chimeric polypeptides behave as molecular scaffolds which are capable of presenting the various heterologous HIV-1 epitopes. The invention demonstrates that a heterologous epitope recognized by the HIV-1 neutralizing antibody can be more fully exposed to neutralizing antibodies when presented within the backbone of the chimeric polypeptide than when the epitope is presented within the context of an HIV-1 backbone. Polynucleotides encoding these chimeric polypeptides are also provided. Immunogenic compositions are provided which comprise a chimeric polypeptide having at least one heterologous epitope that interacts with an HIV-1 neutralizing antibody. Immuno genie compositions comprising chimeric polynucleotides encoding the chimeric polypeptides of the invention are also provided.