Grant: Doctoral Award - Frederick Banting and Charles Best Canada Graduate Scholarships

HIV/AIDS is one of the most devastating infectious diseases of modern times, destroying communities and families around the world. Altered susceptibility to HIV-1 infection has been observed in multiple cohorts around the world. Our research group has been studying a commercial female sex worker cohort established in the Pumwani district of Nairobi, Kenya who, despite repeated exposure to HIV-1, remain uninfected. It is well known that some people are more susceptible to HIV-1 infection than others based on their genetic makeup. Variations in immune-related genes affect immune response to the pathogen and studying these genes can provide great insights in developing successful treatment methods. This project involves studying naturally occurring variants of IRF-1 gene, transcriptional regulator and an important player in developing proper host immune response against HIV-1 infection. Individuals with the protective IRF-1 variant have significantly lower chance of getting infected with HIV virus. We are interested in further determining what effects do different IRF-1 gene variants have on HIV-1 replication and the development of host immune response. We will do an in depth analysis of IRF-1 protein, cell signalling processes that are affected by IRF-1 and the effect on HIV-1 replication. Since IRF-1 is shown to be a crucial early regulator of HIV replication it is important to fully characterize the effect of IRF-1 polymorphisms as this will further the understanding of mechanisms of HIV-1 resistance and promote the development of novel prophylactic and therapeutic modalities to combat HIV-1 infection.