#20 - Dr. Sarah Palmer: HIV persistence and advances in treatment research

Dr. Sarah Palmer is a virologist specializing in HIV research and pathogenesis. As Co-Director of the Centre for Virus Research at The Westmead Institute for Medical Research and Professor at The University of Sydney School of Medicine, Sarah leads innovative studies on HIV reservoirs and eradication strategies.

In this episode, I learn about the intricacies of HIV. We dive deeper into topics that Sharon and Tony discussed in our previous episodes and break down Sarah’s research in HIV sequencing and protein modeling. Sarah is not only a marvelous scientist but also masterful with words, breaking down complex ideas into easy to understand ones.

Timestamps:

(00:00:00) Episode Introduction

(00:01:36) Why cure and why it hasn’t yet been cured

(00:13:09) Sarah’s research (DNA sequencing and protein modeling)

(00:22:42) How the immune system learns and different types of vaccines

(00:26:32) Current latency reversal agents and vaccine development

(00:31:56) Patients completely cured of HIV

(00:34:15) Global responses and status of HIV (China, South Africa, Botswana, South Korea)

(00:41:20) Preventative measures and screening

(00:46:42) HIV, Covid, and Hepatitis B

(00:49:30) HIV research funding (governments and pharmaceutical companies)

(00:54:13) AI in HIV research

(00:58:17) Priority in the next 5 years

(01:01:30) Outro

Linktree: linktr.ee/gustavofrancopod

Chapters

• 0:00 Episode introduction
• 1:36 Why cure HIV and why it hasn’t yet been cured
• 13:09 Sarah’s research (HIV DNA sequencing and protein modeling)
• 22:42 How the immune system learns and different types of vaccines
• 26:42 Current latency reversal agents and vaccine development
• 31:56 Patients completely cured of HIV
• 34:15 Global responses and status of HIV (China, South Africa, Botswana, South Korea)
• 41:20 Preventative measures and screening
• 46:42 HIV, Covid, and Hepatitis B interactions
• 49:30 HIV research funding (governments and pharmaceutical companies)
• 54:13 AI in HIV research
• 58:17 Priority in the next 5 years
• 1:01:30 Outro