Team

Robert F. Siliciano, MD, PhD

Janet M. Siliciano, Ph.D.

Research Associates

Ya-Chi Ho, M.D., M.S., Ph.D.

Annukka (Annie) Antar, M.D., Ph.D.

Annie started in the lab a few months ago after finishing her first year of infectious diseases fellowship. She is currently investigating the dynamics of the HIV-1 provirus landscape over time.

Graduate Students

Katherine Bruner

For my thesis project, I am characterizing the types of proviruses found in patients treated either early or late in the course of HIV-1 infection as well as developing a rapid and scalable assay for the HIV-1 latent reservoir that can distinguish intact from defective genomes.

Andrew Timmons

My thesis research focuses on describing the mechanisms of action of HIV latency-reversing agents when used in combination. In addition, I study how genetic variation in HIV promoter regions affects the expression of the individual viruses composing the latent reservoir. I intend for this work to provide a better understanding of how genetic differences between individual viruses affects their susceptibility to pharmacological manipulation.

Zheng (Jessica) Wang

For my thesis project, I am examining if resting Cd4+ T cells containing replication-competent virus can proliferate in response to either stimulation through TCR or cytokines that are known to drive homeostatic proliferation. And if stimuli that drive T cell proliferation also induce latent HIV.

Kyungyoon (Jennifer) Kwon

I am interested in studying the role of clonal expansion in the persistence of the latent reservoir. Specifically, I am looking at the role of integration sites of replication-competent HIV-1 that reside in the latent reservoir.

Srona Sengupta

I am working on understanding non-canonical recognition of HIV infected cells by the immune system, with the goal of using this information for more effective HIV vaccine strategies.

Alexandra Murray

I am an MD PhD student that studies the latent reservoir in SIV and SHIV animal models. I am also working on developing methods to more accurately measure the latent reservoir in these models.

Lynn Bertagnolli

My thesis project is focused on studying new potential latency reversing agents. Specifically, I am currently looking into drug screening assays in order to search for new synergistic relationships between drugs.

Emily Fray

My thesis project is focused on identifying the key cellular factors which are sufficient to reactivate HIV expression in latently infected cells. I’m also interested in understanding how transcriptional regulatory elements in the HIV LTR contribute to the establishment of latency.

Mithra Kumar

text needed…

Francesco Simonetti

My research on HIV persistence focuses on the mechanisms driving clonal expansion of infected T-cells. I am currently trying to dissect the contribution of chronic antigen exposure to the persistence and expansion of clones harboring proviral DNA.

Research Technicians

Jun Lai

Subul Beg

Roberto Ramirez

Katie Jenike

Undergraduate Students

Sun Young (Sarah) Jang

I am interested in two different strategies of HIV-1 cure: shock-and-kill strategy and block-and-lock strategy. My project for shock-and-kill involves understanding the role of novel mechanisms in latency reversal in HIV-1 positive patient cells using various latency reversing agents. My goal for the block-and-lock project is to identify cellular factors that repress HIV-1 transcription upon reactivation of the patient cells. To achieve this goal I have developed a primary cell model that can be used for screening the candidate cellular factors.

Carrie Hetzel

text needed…

Previous Students

Alyssa Martin, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow- NIH

Greg Laird, Ph.D.

Instructor- Johns Hopkins University

Sarah Laskey, Ph.D.

Product Scientist- 23andMe

Chris Pohlmeyer, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Scientist- Gilead Sciences

Nina Hosmane, Ph.D.

Technical Application Scientist- BioLegend

Michelle Kim, Ph.D.

Senior Scientist- Circulomics Inc.

Sifei Xing, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow- Emory University

Cynthia (Korin) Bullen, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow- Johns Hopkins University

Liang Shan, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow- Yale University

Kai Deng, Ph.D.

PI, Insititute of Human Virology- Sun Yat-Sen University, China

Evelyn Eisele-Gurule, Ph.D.

Medical Student- Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine