HIV and Aging
Because up to one-half of people living with HIV experience cognitive impairment from HIV or related factors, the likelihood for masking and thus delaying the diagnosis of early and Alzhemier’s disease is substantial. Our lab has uncovered epigenetic imprints of HIV associated cognitive impairment and are currently using combinatorial omics tools at single cell resolution to define signatures of HIV associated neurocognitive disorders and Alzhemier’s in the hope this would facilitate clinically relevant diagnostic sorting
New developments in stem cell technologies have permitted the differentiation of “cerebral organoids” from induced pluripotent stem cells. Research using cerebral organoids can facilitate advances in host–microbe research and thus provide an unprecedented new opportunity to study underlying mechanisms of HIV-1 mediated brain dysfunction. In a new study our research team is providing novel insights into the pathogenesis of HIV-1 mediated brain dysfunction, the effects of cocaine and HIV-1 latency in the brain and the compounding effects of age.