George B. Kyei, MD, PhD

Washington University in St. Louis (WU)

My research interests are in HIV latency and reservoir maintenance. An important obstacle to the cure of HIV is viral replication in long lived, quiescent immune cells such as macrophages, dendritic cells and resting T cells. These cells serve as sources of viral production once medications are discontinued, making life-long therapy a necessity. In addition, slow or inefficient replication makes the virus less susceptible to current antiretrovirals in these cell types. My research efforts are focused on (i) characterization of factors that control HIV replication in macrophages, dendritic and resting T cells and (ii) identification of cellular factors and small molecules required for HIV reactivation in latently infected cells. (iii) Characterization of the HIV reservoir.