Development of translational HIV models to better understand HIV reservoir dynamics and test HIV eradication strategies

The major obstacle to achieve HIV cure is the persistent reservoir of latently infected cells from which virus replication rapidly resumes if lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) is interrupted. Therefore, there is an urgent need to better understand HIV reservoir dynamics and develop eradication strategies that cure HIV without lifelong therapy. Current methods to study and quantify the HIV reservoir are based on the use of ex vivo latently infected primary CD4 T cells and latently infected T-cell lines generated from patients. We aim to develop new model systems and techniques to investigate HIV reservoir dynamics and test eradication strategies which mimic natural conditions more closely.

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Marieke Nühn