S. Vasan

Contemporary HIV-1 consensus Env with redesigned hypervariable loops promote antibody binding

The paper redesigns hypervariable loops in HIV-1 Env consensus sequences to enhance antibody binding and improve vaccine antigen design.

Tracking coreceptor switch of the transmitted/founder HIV-1 identifies co-evolution of HIV-1 antigenicity, coreceptor usage and CD4 subset targeting

The paper tracks the coreceptor switch of HIV-1 in early infection, finding that a single mutation can drive X4 variants and co-evolution of antigenicity and tropism.

Productive and latent HIV infections originate in resting CD4+ T cells

This study shows that resting CD4+ T cells are the initial source of both productive and latent HIV infections in the earliest stages of detectable infection.

HIV rapidly targets a diverse pool of CD4+ T cells to establish productive and latent infections

This study identifies that HIV initially infects diverse CD4+ T cells in blood and lymph nodes, establishing both productive infections and latent reservoirs simultaneously.

A SARS-CoV-2 vaccine candidate would likely match all currently circulating strains

The paper analyzes SARS-CoV-2 sequence diversity and finds limited variation in the Spike protein, suggesting a single vaccine could be effective against current strains.

Boosting with ALVAC-HIV and AIDSVAX B/E enhances Env constant region 1 and 2 antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity

The paper shows that boosting RV144 vaccine recipients with ALVAC-HIV and AIDSVAX B/E increases C1C2-specific antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity breadth and potency.