Grant: Project Grant

In the absence of treatment, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), which has already killed more than 34 million people worldwide. Available treatments control viral replication in infected individuals but are unable to eradicate the virus. This is because the virus "hides" in some immune cells and establishes a reservoir from which it can replicate again as soon as the treatment is interrupted. The goal of my research program is to develop new strategies to decrease the size of the viral reservoir and ultimately eliminate it. We found that the majority of HIV-1-infected individuals have all the elements required to kill infected cells but fail to do so due to the ability of the virus to cover one of its vulnerable parts (Env). By using small molecules we were able to uncover parts of Env and showed that under certain conditions infected cells can be easily eliminated. The proposed research program will put us a step closer towards HIV eradication by extending these observations and generating better molecules to expose vulnerable parts of Env. Information generated by my research program will also be valuable in the current worldwide efforts aimed at developing an HIV-1 vaccine.