Latent virus and HIV-1 specific immunity in LTNPs

描述（由申请人提供）：Blankson博士是一名传染病患者 约翰·霍普金斯大学研究员，过去三年一直在 与他的导师Robert Siliciano博士一起研究HIV-1潜伏期和HIV-1 特异性免疫通过这个奖项，布兰克森博士希望进行基本的 科学研究有关这些主题作为一个教员在传染病 在约翰霍普金斯研究疾病他计划将潜伏病毒 分离株和HIV-1特异性免疫应答的HIV-1感染患者， 自发控制病毒复制。他的假设是这些病人 形成异质性群体;一些患者感染了减毒病毒， 其他人感染了完全致病的病毒，但能够控制病毒 HIV-1特异性免疫应答的复制。他计划隔离 从这些患者中分离潜伏病毒，然后进行基因型和表型分析， 研究来评估这些分离株的复制适应性。他还计划 描述他们的HIV-1特异性免疫反应，特别关注 鉴定CD 4+和CD 8 + T细胞表位。自体潜伏期序列 将分析病毒在这些表位上的选择压力的证据 由免疫系统产生。布兰克森博士将参加基础免疫学和 病毒学研讨会以及临床医学和传染病 两会这沿着着Siliciano博士的出色指导， 约翰霍普金斯大学的支持性环境将提供博士。 布兰克森拥有发展成为一名独立临床医生所需的技能， HIV-1发病机理的基础科学家研究员。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Dr. Blankson is an infectious diseases fellow at the Johns Hopkins University and has spent the last three years working with his mentor, Dr. Robert Siliciano on HIV-1 latency and HIV-1 specific immunity. Through this award, Dr. Blankson hopes to conduct basic science research relating to these topics as a faculty member in infectious diseases at Johns Hopkins. He plans to characterize the latent virus isolates and HIV-1 specific immune responses of HIV-1 infected patients who spontaneously control viral replication. His hypothesis is that these patients form a heterogeneous group; some patients are infected with attenuated virus, others are infected with fully pathogenic virus but are able to control viral replication with vigorous HIV-1 specific immune responses. He plans to isolate latent virus from these patients and then to perform genotypic and phenotypic studies to assess the replication fitness of these isolates. He also plans to characterize their HIV-1 specific immune response with a special focus on identifying CD4+ and CD8+ T cell epitopes. The sequence of autologous latent virus at these epitopes will be analyzed for evidence of selective pressure exerted by the immune system. Dr. Blankson will attend basic immunology and virology seminars as well as clinical medicine and infectious diseases conferences. This along with the excellent mentorship of Dr. Siliciano, and the supportive environment of the Johns Hopkins University will provide Dr. Blankson with the skills he needs to develop into an independent clinician and basic scientist researcher in HIV-1 pathogenesis.