Lillian Cohn, Ph.D.

- Title
- Assistant Professor
- Department
- Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Division
- Institution
- Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
- Address
- 1100 Fairview Ave. N, E5-110
- City, State, ZIP
- Seattle, WA 98109
- Phone
- 206-667-7209
- [email protected]
- Website
- https://research.fredhutch.org/cohn/en.html
- Research field
- HIV; Infectious disease
- Award year
- 2023
Research
My lab investigates the mechanisms that allow HIV to persist indefinitely inside people living with HIV. Antiretroviral therapies (ART) suppress the replication of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. However, if these treatments are suspended, dormant viruses harbored by CD4+ T cells reactivate and reinitiate infection. In previous studies, I discovered that this pool of latently infected cells, termed the “latent reservoir,” that persist during treatment aren’t static, but are dynamic and can even proliferate during immune responses to other infections. Now, using advanced methods in molecular genetics, immunology, virology, computational modeling, and genomics, I will probe the cellular and molecular factors that facilitate the persistence of HIV during ART. We are interested in certain regions of the infected host cell genome that provide a safer place for the integrated provirus to avoid immune detection during treatment, which will contribute to the longevity of latently infected cells. This potential genomic safe haven will also shape the immune system’s response to reactivated virus during treatment interruption. Our ultimate goal is to identify new interventions for eradicating and controlling HIV worldwide.
Scholar Keywords
2023 Search Pew Scholars
- Aaron Whiteley, Ph.D.
- Amanda Lea, Ph.D.
- Ambre Bertholet, Ph.D.
- Christine Grienberger, Ph.D.
- Christopher Barnes, Ph.D.
- Christopher Smillie, Ph.D.
- Chrysothemis Brown, MBBS, Ph.D.
- Danielle Grotjahn, Ph.D.
- Helen Vuong, Ph.D.
- James Gardner, M.D., Ph.D.
- John Brooks, Ph.D.
- Josefina del Mármol, Ph.D.
- Kara Marshall, Ph.D.
- Keren Hilgendorf, Ph.D.
- Lillian Cohn, Ph.D.
- Mijo Simunovic, Ph.D.
- Quinton Smith, Ph.D.
- Siniša Hrvatin, Ph.D.
- Steven Banik, Ph.D.
- Tony Tsai, M.D., Ph.D.
- Wenhan Zhu, Ph.D.
- Yuuki Obata, Ph.D.