Schwarzer Lab
Schwarzer Lab Website
Research Area
The history of HIV research is marked by great successes and disappointing failures. Since the initial description of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and its etiological agent, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), in the early 1980s, it took less than ten years for the first antiretroviral drug to be approved and introduced into clinical practice. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has transformed HIV infections from an almost certain death sentence into a manageable chronic condition, typically with only minimal symptoms and negligible drug toxicity. Unfortunately, ART does not affect HIV-infected cells that do not exhibit virus replication and can remain dormant for years or even decades, ultimately causing a rapid spread of the infection upon termination of therapy. For the majority of patients, complete remission remains unattainable.
The latent cells, known as latent reservoirs, must be neutralized to achieve a true cure for HIV infections. So far, all attempts to reach this goal, despite initial successes, have largely failed in clinical trials. New and better tools for identifying and specifically targeting latently infected cells must be urgently researched.
Our research aims to better understand latent HIV reservoirs and then develop therapeutic strategies that influence either the seeding of the reservoir, its maintenance, or reactivation from latency. Additionally, we are interested in the pathogenesis of HIV infections and the molecular mechanisms involved in the progression of the disease (see figure below).
To this end, we use high-dimensional systems virology and CRISPR methods to comprehensively characterize and then examine reservoir cells in detail. Our model systems include cell line and primary cell models of HIV latency and virus-induced pathogenesis, but we also study samples from HIV-infected patients.
Principal Investigators
Hannah Sabeth Schwarzer-Sperber
Tel. 0201/723-82863
hannah.schwarzer-sperber@uk-essen.de
Dr. rer. nat. Roland Schwarzer
Tel. 0201/723-4343