Research interests
Dr. Christopher Peterson’s primary research focus is on gene therapy strategies for latent HIV-1 infection. In people living with HIV (PLWH), antiretroviral therapy (ART) medicines are very effective at suppressing viral replication but are not curative. An extremely small number of infected cells persist, essentially hidden from the host immune system. Because they harbor the virus’ genetic information, they are poised to resume viral replication as soon as ART drugs are stopped. Dr. Peterson is developing T cell, B cell, and hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy and gene editing approaches to find and destroy these so called persistently-infected cells. He is further applying lessons learned from latent HIV infection to other diseases that may similarly “fly under the radar” of the host immune system, including numerous other viruses and many cancers. Most importantly, strategies for an HIV cure must reach a high bar for safety and must be relevant in resource-limited settings where the number of PLWH is high. The ultimate goal of his research is to provide a curative therapy that is safer and more affordable than lifelong ART and can be applied anywhere in the world.
