Unraveling the Genetic Basis of HIV Control

Learning Objectives

1. Better appreciate the use of genome-wide association scans to understand human disease.
2. Describe the genetic basis for control and lack of control of HIV.
3. Discuss the implications of genetic studies for vaccine design.
4. Understand the effects of immune selection pressure on viral fitness.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER: Bruce Walker, MD, is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, Director of the newly formed Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, and Adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine in Durban, South Africa. His research focuses on cellular immune responses in chronic viral infections, with a particular focus on HIV. He leads an international translational clinical and basic science research effort to understand how some rare people who are infected with HIV, but have never been treated, can fight the virus with their immune system.