Welcome to the Penn Center for AIDS Research
The Penn Center for AIDS Research (Penn CFAR) is one of 20 NIH-funded CFARs and includes HIV and AIDS investigators at the University of Pennsylvania, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), and the Wistar Institute.
The Penn CFAR's mission is to support, encourage and facilitate research in all areas of HIV/AIDS on the Penn/CHOP/Wistar campus by (a) facilitating communication and interdisciplinary collaborations through workshops, working groups, strategic planning efforts, and a seminar series covering all topics in the field; (b) support innovative pilot research in HIV/AIDS through developmental pilot grant programs including nonhuman primate-based research; (c) mentoring and support of junior investigators; (d) services and training in support of HIV research through Shared Cores: Clinical, Viral/Molecular, Immunology, Biostatistics & Data Management; Behavioral and Social Sciences; International; Nonhuman Primate.
Announcement
The 2018- 2019 Seminar Series has been scheduled. Please see our Seminar Series page for a list of upcoming speakers
Next CFAR Seminar:
News
- Recent News
Dr. Drew Weissman, who has developed nucleoside-modified mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) as a novel platform for vaccines, showed that the vaccine and LNPs specifically induce high levels of T follicular helper cells (Tfh). Tfh cells form germinal centers (GC) and drive GC B cells to proliferate, somatically mutate, class switch, and form long-term memory, which are critical for HIV vaccine development. In addition to HIV, the vaccine platform has applications to many different viral, bacterial, and parasitic pathogens.
Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Mohsen and a multidisciplinary team from Wistar, Penn and several other institutions, found that CD32, previously implicated as a marker of the HIV latent reservoir, is actually expressed preferentially on a subset of activated CD4+ T cells enriched for transcriptionally active HIV. This has important implications for identifying and targeting HIV latency in infected people.
Dr. Laura Su and an international, transdisciplinary team have authored an article in Science Immunology that focuses on how follicular helper T cells (Tfh) play an essential role in shaping B-cell mediated antibody responses. The Su lab employed mass cytometry and TCR sequencing to directly examine the Tfh response to HIV and reported oligoclonal expansion of a functionally-restricted subset of Tfh cells in HIV infected lymph nodes. This lack of polyfunctionality may contribute to Tfh cell pathology in HIV infection and correlated with impaired isotype switching of B cells in the lymph nodes.
Events
- HIV Grand Rounds
Every Thursday
12:00- 1:00 pm, Class of '62 Auditorium, John Morgan Building (unless otherwise posted) - HIV / Pathogenesis CURE Journal Club
Every Other Thursday (starting again 9/20/18)
1:30- 3:00 pm, Room 501, Johnson Pavilion
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