Mathias Lichterfeld

Research Activities – Mathias Lichterfeld

My lab focuses on human immune responses against retroviral infections, specifically against HIV-1 and HTLV-1. In the context of HIV, my lab is specifically interested in understanding why HIV-1 reservoir cells, a rare type of HIV-1-infected cells that persist long-term despite antiretroviral therapy, can resist immune elimination. To investigate this, we are developing novel next-generation sequencing assays that are specifically designed to interrogate these cells directly ex vivo in samples collected from study participants living with HIV. In addition, my group uses human clinical trials as investigative tools to understand how the immune system can engage, target and possibly eliminate such cells. In this context, we are using a spectrum of immunology and virology assays to evaluate markers of host immune selection pressure against viral reservoir cells during interventional human studies involving innate immune modulators, broadly-neutralizing antibodies, T cell vaccines or pharmacological agents designed to reverse HIV latency. Through strategic collaborations, some of these studies are conducted with infants and young children who live with HIV in Botswana, allowing us to specifically evaluate how viral reservoir cells can be targeted by the pediatric immune system. My lab is also interested in understanding how retroviral persistence is modulated through genetic and epigenetic mechanisms in infected host cells, and how physiologic immunological changes during human aging can contribute to the ability of viral reservoir cells to resist immune mediated killing. In the context of HTLV-1 infection, we are interested in understanding how genomic, transcriptional and epigenetic changes that result from retroviral integration influence the immunological behavior of infected T cells and enable them to persist life-long.