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amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research

The amfAR Institute for HIV Cure Research is an innovative, collaborative enterprise based at the ARI. Its aim is to develop the scientific basis of a cure for HIV by the end of 2020. Development of a functional cure would mean that individuals infected with HIV would no longer need lifelong drug treatment to hold the virus in check. As the administrative home of the amfAR Institute, the ARI will coordinate scientific efforts in this final battle against HIV.

The Institute supports teams of scientists, all experts in the field of HIV cure research, working across the research continuum—from basic science to clinical studies—and taps into UCSF’s expansive research network. The Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, Blood Systems Research Institute, Oregon Health and Science University and Gilead Sciences are key partners. The Institute enables teams of researchers to work across institutions and disciplines to address four key challenges to effecting a cure: pinpoint the precise locations of latent reservoirs of the virus; determine how they are formed and persist; quantify the amount of virus in them; and finally, eradicate the reservoirs from the body.

Leading the research efforts are Paul Volberding, MD, director of the UCSF AIDS Research Institute; Satish Pillai, PhD, associate investigator, Vitalant; Steven Deeks, MD, professor of medicine, UCSF; and Peter Hunt, MD, associate professor of medicine in the UCSF HIV/AIDS Division. They will work in collaboration with Afam Okoye, PhD, staff scientist at Oregon Health & Science University.

UCSF Magazine detailed the work of our cure researchers in their 2016 issue. Read about our Countdown to a Cure.

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