Latent virus and HIV-1 specific immunity in LTNPs

描述(申请人提供)：Blankson博士是一种传染病 约翰·霍普金斯大学的研究员，在过去的三年里 与他的导师罗伯特·西里西亚诺博士合作研究HIV-1潜伏期和HIV-1 特定豁免权。通过这个奖项，布兰克森博士希望进行基本的 作为传染病杂志的一名教员，从事与这些主题相关的科学研究 约翰霍普金斯大学的疾病。他计划对潜伏的病毒进行定性 HIV-1感染者的分离株及HIV-1特异性免疫应答 自发地控制病毒复制。他的假设是这些患者 形成一个异种群体；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 具有强大的HIV-1特异性免疫反应的复制。他计划隔离 从这些患者身上提取潜伏病毒，然后进行基因分型和表型分析 评估这些分离株复制适合性的研究。他还计划 描述他们的HIV-1特异性免疫反应，特别关注 确定CD4+和CD8+T细胞表位。自体潜伏期序列 这些表位上的病毒将被分析以寻找选择性压力的证据。 由免疫系统施加的。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 会议。再加上西里西亚诺博士出色的指导， 约翰霍普金斯大学的支持环境将为他提供。 布兰克森拥有成为一名独立临床医生所需的技能 HIV-1致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.