Speakers - NWC 2023

Biography

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha, NE, USA. I did my Ph.D. in India, working on Epidemiology and NeuroAIDS of HIV-1 infection and Molecular Characterization of viral clones from an HIV-1 demented Indian Patient. My current focus is to look at the molecular details associated with HIV and aging and find new biomarkers using a suitable small animal model of the HIV disease by employing NSG-humanized mice. My other research focuses on drug-drug interactions and molecular pathways for HIV therapeutics and elimination. My work led to the “first” eradication of HIV-1 infection in humanized mice using sequential combinations of long-acting slow effective, release antiretroviral therapy and CRISPR-Cas9. In addition, my laboratory works on evaluating the viral compartmentalization through analyses of tissue viral reservoirs under highly suppressive antiretroviral HIV-1 therapies with a special focus on the brain. We have recently developed a highly sensitive in vivo mice viral outgrowth assay using humanized mice as donors and recipients to capture replication-competent latent HIV-1 from peripheral, myeloid, and central nervous system (CNS) reservoir compartments, which will be an important tool to evaluate HIV-cure therapies. My work also includes studies of the interrelationships between tissue histology and quantitative measurements of the virus production and examinations of virus-associated biomarkers through metabolic profiling in small animal models of human disease. My background is in molecular retrovirology, pharmacodynamics, immunology, and neuroscience experience with more than 40 publications in high-profile journals, including corresponding author publications and invited editorials in respected journals. Our work to look at the distribution of HIV in the CNS compartment in humanized mice is funded by NIMH. I have trained more than ten summer students, five research technologists, co-mentored one graduate student, and currently have one Ph.D. student. I have received consecutive Young Investigator Awards from CROI and SNIP societies from 2011 to 2015. In 2020 I received the New Investigator Award from the University of Nebraska Medical Center.