Much is known about how HIV evolves and adapts to the human immune system during untreated infection, but in order to one day find a vaccine or cure, more knowledge is needed about the landscape of viruses lying dormant in the bodies of infected people, even when strictly adhering to antiretroviral therapy.
Natalie Kinloch, a PhD student in the Faculty of Health Sciences, hopes her research will contribute to this knowledge. Kinloch is one of six students from SFU who have been awarded the 2019 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, a prestigious award supporting the research of highly qualified doctoral students.
Kinloch’s research in Associate Professor Zabrina Brumme‘s lab investigates HIV genetic diversity and evolution with the goal of informing the design of both an HIV vaccine and cure.
“Right now, we’re focused on characterizing the viruses of the latent HIV reservoir that are hiding dormant in an infected person’s body and prevent HIV from being cured,” says Kinloch. “This work will give us a better understanding of the attributes of the viruses that must be targeted by any intervention hoping to achieve an HIV cure.”