HIV Immunotherapeutic Group

The HIV Immunotherapeutic Group research aims at developing therapeutics for the eradication of chronic HIV and the prevention of HIV transmission. Current antiviral drugs are not curative, as the virus rebounds shortly after treatment cessation. This necessitates lifelong treatment which have many side effects with the ongoing emergence of drug-resistant HIV requiring the continual development of new drugs.

Our second area of research focuses on investigating sexual transmission of HIV using the actual human tissues where infection occurs. Our goal is to identify T cells in anogenital tissues that could be targeted for an HIV cure or by mucosal vaccines to prevent HIV transmission.

Recent Achievements

  • Discovery of an agent that reactivates silent HIV. We are currently testing it in an animal model

Recent publications

. Recent advances in our understanding of human inflammatory dendritic cells in HIV infection. Viruses 2025 under review

Characterising plasmacytoid and myeloid AXL+ SIGLEC6+ dendritic cell functions and their interactions with HIV. PLoS Path 2024.

Strategies to eliminate the CD4 T cells HIV viral reservoir via CAR T cell immunotherapy. Frontiers Immunol 2022

The role of Tissue Resident Memory CD4 T Cells in Herpes Simplex Viral and HIV Infection. Viruses 2021

Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Have Divergent Effects on HIV Infection of Initial Target Cells and Induce a Pro-retention Phenotype. PLoS Pathogen 2021

NAME ROLE
Yanran Zhao Post Doc
Hafsa Rana Post Doc
Freja Warner Van Dijk PhD student
Baani Bagga PhD student (starting March 2025)
Yuchen Li PhD student (starting July 2025)
Blake Johnson MPhil Student

SUPPORT US

With your support, we can continue to explore groundbreaking research and improved health outcomes for people everywhere.

our story