HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 Persistence and Virus-Host Responses in Tissues Across the Whole Body
To further understand HIV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 persistence, we are focusing heavily on tissue-virus interactions, resulting inflammation, and viral mechanisms that allow for ongoing persistence in a variety of cell types across multiple tissues (such as the heart and brain) within our cohort. With unparalleled access to tissue, we are studying the burden of HIV-1, SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses across the whole body using novel high-dimensional multi-omic spatial profiling (DSP; e.g., Xenium, GeoMX) to quantitate various genomic and subgenomic viral transcripts and related viral host response gene responses directly in situ.
Tissue Human Virome Project
We are part of the NIH-funded Human Virome Program (HVP). The goals of this major program are to determine viral infection across the whole body using metagenomic sequencing, spatial profiling, and machine learning/AI algorithms to determine interactions between viral infections and tissue host responses with single-cell resolution across the whole body, and overall health.