Abstract

My main research interest is early events in infection at mucosal surfaces and particularly microbial attachment to host receptors with the aim of developing approaches to prevent infection. Having previously worked on Streptococcus mutans and Helicobacter pylori, my focus now is the development of compounds (microbicides) which can be applied topically to prevent infection with HIV -1. For the last 6 years, I have been coordinating a project (European Microbicides Project, EMPRO ) with 25 partner institutions funded by the European Commission to develop novel microbicides. These include both HIV -1 entry-inhibitors such (e.g. single-domain antibodies, RANTES analogues and CD4 mimetics) as well as small molecule inhibitors of events post HIV entry. I will present some of the findings from this project including data from in vivo efficacy studies as well more detailed analyses of DC-SIGN enhancement of HIV -1 entry.