About

Persistent, latent HIV infection despite anti-retroviral therapy (ART) remains a formidable barrier towards achieving an HIV cure. A major approach to target persistent HIV infection involves latency reversal, using small molecules capable of inducing expression of the HIV provirus, followed by immune mediated clearance of infected cells. The successful implementation of this or indeed any other approach to HIV eradication will require specific knowledge about the nature of the reservoir and the interplay of factors regulating the reservoir in all human populations. Women constitute one half of people living with HIV disease yet, they represent a minority in HIV cure studies. Our laboratory uses molecular biology and biochemical methods to 1) define sex-specific and other factors that contribute to HIV persistence in people living with HIV with a particular focus on women, 2) define modalities to disrupt latency and clear latently infected cells, and 3) apply these observations in clinical applications.

In the News

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  Integrator Complex Subunit 12 Knockout Overcomes a Transcriptional Block to HIV Latency Reversal

  The latent HIV reservoir is a major barrier to HIV cure. Despite advancements in keeping viral loads below detectable limits, HIV-1 still exists within a latent reservoir in vivo and viral replication returns when anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is interrupted. Nancie M. Archin, PhD, and Edward P. Browne, PhD, sought to improve HIV reactivation with a … Read more

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  BET Degraders Reveal BRD4 Disruption of 7SK and P-TEFb is Critical for Effective Reactivation of Latent HIV in CD4+ T-cells

  HIV cure strategies that aim to induce viral reactivation for immune clearance leverage latency reversal agents to modulate host pathways, which directly or indirectly facilitate viral reactivation. Inhibition of BET (bromo and extra-terminal domain) family member BRD4 reverses HIV latency, but enthusiasm for the use of BET inhibitors in HIV cure studies is tempered by … Read more

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  A Targeted CRISPR Screen Identifies ETS1 as a Regulator of HIV-1 Latency

  Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is regulated by various host cell factors that combine to influence viral transcription and latency. To understand the complex relationship between the host cell and HIV-1 latency, Edward Browne, PhD, Nancie M. Archin, PhD, and David Margolis, MD, performed a lentiviral CRISPR screen that targeted a set of host cell genes … Read more

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  IGHID Investigators Participate in CROI Conference

  Investigators with the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases (IGHID) participated in the 2025 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in San Francisco, California, March 9-12. Following are some highlights.   In a CROI preview, Joe Eron, MD, was interviewed for the “Going Anti-Viral” IAS-USA podcast, discussing the state of HIV cure research … Read more