About me

I am currently a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Infectious Disease, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School under the advisement of Prof. Athe Tsibris. My work will focus on the biology and dynamics of HIV reservoirs in blood and tissue.

The latent HIV reservoir in CD4+ T cells and other cell types is a major barrier to cure HIV. A focus on the reactivation of virus transcription and how to eliminate the reservoir through immune-mediated approaches has the potential to identify novel ways to treat HIV infection. I seek to precisely understand a mechanism that is required to reactivate HIV translation while minimizing off-target effects on cell function; virtually any eradication effort based on the human immune system will require HIV translation. To do this, I intend to understand the time kinetics required for HIV transcriptional reactivation and the first transcription occurred by LRA, permeabilized cell, and multiply spliced viral transcripts were assessed over time. Permeabilized cells and total RNA were extracted from part of the cells collected at the same time point to assess RNA-seq and PRO-seq which identify candidate enhancer RNAs and profile the immediate transcriptional effects of reactivating LRA. The second direction is to present the immunomodulatory LRA characteristics. I evaluated the role of the identified signaling pathway and regulatory factors in primary resting CD4+ T cells. My past experience with infectious diseases will allow me to continue to make advances here.

My research into HIV reservoirs is essential for the development of curative strategies for this disease. HIV is a major global public health issue, including the USA. HIV infection is not curable with current antiretroviral therapy (ART) because a small fraction of CD4+ T cells infected prior to ART initiation persists. A short course of ART would clear HIV-infected cells in infected individuals. However, interrupting ART causes the virus to rapidly rebound to pretherapy levels, even in people in whom HIV infection has been fully suppressed for more than 10 years. “Shock and kill” is an effective strategy involving latency-reversing agents (LRAs) to reactivate HIV-1 from latently infected cells, leading to immune-mediated clearance or death through viral cytolysis. In the next few years, I will focus on understanding the mechanisms of Latency-reversal agents (Romidepsin, Bryostatin, the combination Romidepsin and Bryostatin) in reactivating HIV transcription from latency and the activation of immune response in HIV latency by LRA. My study approaches a need to enhance our understanding of the biology of the latent reservoir as well as develop novel LRAs that are more potent, more specific, and can also induce cell death, leading a novel cure for HIV infection.

1.2. Education

PhD., Biomedical Sciences

Seoul National University (South Korea), 2020

B.Sc., Medical Technology (4-year program)

Ha Noi Medical University (Vietnam), 2018

1.3. Employment

Postdoctoral Fellow

Seoul National University

Postdoctoral Fellow

Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

1.4. Experience

1.5. Contact