Worldwide, approximately 37 million people are infected with HIV. Currently, HIV-patients are
subjected to lifelong intake of medication, because shortly after infection, a viral reservoir of
latently infected cells is formed. These latent proviruses stably reside inside the genome of the
host cell, where they are not susceptible to antiretroviral drugs. Lifelong intake of cART brings
along a multitude of problems, such as adverse effects, large societal costs and issues with patient
compliance.
A lot of effort is being invested in developing drugs that reduce and eventually eradicate the viral
reservoir. In order to design fit-for-purpose strategies, a thorough understanding of the size and
dynamics of the viral reservoir is needed. During this project, we aim to develop a novel assay to
accurately measure the true size of the reservoir, which is one of the largest needs in current HIV-1
cure research. Furthermore, recently, it has been shown that latently infected cells are able to
divide mitotically, which drives proliferation of the viral reservoir. This is widely regarded as being
a new barrier towards a cure. We will develop a novel high throughput integration site sequencing
(ISS) assay that will allow us to closely monitor the dynamics of the reservoir.
By conducting this PhD research, we will be able to get a better understanding about the
composition and persistence of the viral reservoir, leading to the development of novel HIV-1 cure
strategies.