Lusso Research Group

The Viral Pathogenesis Section (VPS) is focused on the study of HIV/AIDS pathogenesis and the development of innovative strategies for therapy and vaccine. A primary area of interest in recent years has been the development of a novel HIV-1 vaccine platform based on mRNA. Another research topic, directly related to vaccine design, is the elucidation of the structure-function relationships within the HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins, which can identify conserved functional regions and elucidate the structural basis of immune evasion, a major obstacle to vaccine development. This knowledge has also been instrumental to the VPS efforts to rationally engineer HIV-neutralizing antibodies with improved potency and breadth. Other research areas include the study of endogenous immune modulators that regulate HIV-1 transmission, replication, and pathogenesis, including CCR5-binding antiviral chemokines, interleukin-7 and integrin α4β7. The research group uses a comprehensive research approach that combines classic immunology and virology with state-of-the-art post-genomic technologies and pre-clinical in vivo studies in nonhuman primates.