News
May 2025
On May 9, Dr. Sara Gianella from UCSD was invited by Dr. Jiang to give a seminar on the “Last Gift” Research Program at the UNC HIV Cure Center and Infectious Diseases Division. She delivered a wonderful presentation, and Dr. Jiang and his research team met with her to discuss ongoing studies and future collaboration..
April 2025
On April 30, Dr. Tang was invited for a talk at The Global Annual Meet on Immunology and Microbiology (GAMIM2025) late this August (GAMIM2025 | Axiom Meetings). Congratulations to Dr. Tang!
On April 17, Ms. Madhura Manjunath joined the Jiang lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Madhura majors in neuroscience with a minor in chemistry and CS. She will perform her honors research study in the Jiang Lab. Welcome, Madhura!
On April 15, Ms. Alana Thomas, from our collaborator Dr. Mary Kearney’s lab at NCI, presented the findings on “HIV provirus and integration profiles in the brain microglia and the spleen in the Last Gift cohort ” at the 2025 Think Tank Meeting at the NCI HIV Dynamics and Replication Program in NIH.
On April 11-13, Mr. Nikesh Katuwal attended the 2025 NACA Conference “Bridging Boundaries – Mounting Elevations: Navigating the Future through Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration” in Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
March 2025
On March 19, Dr. Jiang was invited by NIH to join a Special Emphasis Panel for a grant review. It was great NIH reinitiated the funding process.
On March 6, Dr. Waqas Ahmed presented his data at the 8th Annual Chromatin and Epigenetics Symposium at UNC-Chapel Hill. The title of his poster is “The crotonylation reader protein ENL plays a unique role in HIV latency”.
On March 3, Ms. Siyao Li joined the Jiang Lab as a research assistant. Siyao is a UNC undergraduate student majoring in Biology as well as Statistics and Analytics. Welcome Siyao!
On March 3, Dr. Waqas Ahmed presented his study, ” The crotonylation reader protein ENL and HIV latency” at the Weekly HIV Cure Center Meeting. Many research data were also collected by the study team, including Drs. Xiaoyi Li and Hongjie Chen.
February 2025
On Feb 26, Dr. Waqas Ahmed presented his study in the BCBP Research Retreat (Makeup for Res Retreat 2024) entitled ” An unexpected role of crotonylation reader protein ENL and HIV latency”.
On Feb 18, the Jiang lab presented data for “Understanding the Complexity of HIV CNS Reservoirs” in the Monthly CARE meeting.
On Feb 14, Dr. Jiang received an email from NIH for rescheduling the study section from March to April due to the federal register issues.
On Feb 13-14, Dr. Shabangu presented his talk at the B-HIVE Winter F2F meeting at Emory University. Dr. Jiang summarized the findings from his team about residual and persistent HIV transcription in the CNS on ART.
On Feb 9, Dr. Ciniso Shabangu’s poster was selected for a lightning talk in the B-HIVE Winter F2F meeting at Emory. The title of his talk is “Tat-TAR interaction in HIV strains derived from the brain microglia isolated from PWH on ART”. Congratulations to Ciniso!
On Feb 6, Dr. Jiang presented his studies in the Carolina Chromatin Consortium meeting with the title “Histone decrotonylation and HIV latency”. This was also part of the BIOC702 Advanced course on Chromatin and Epigenetics in BBSP that Dr. Jiang has been teaching since last semester. After the talk, the students in this class spent another 30 minutes with Dr. Jiang further discussing the studies in the Pagano Conference Room to exchange ideas about epigenetics in human diseases.
On Feb 5, Dr. Jiang was invited by NIH for a study section for grant review. It was exciting that NIH seemed to initiate grant review and funding after chaos in early Feb.
On Feb 3, Mr. Jacob B. Lovins joined the Jiang lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Welcome Jacob!
January 2025
On January 6, Dr. Jiang was invited to serve as an Official Nominator for the VinFuture Prize established by the Vietnamese Government in 2020. As the major international award in Vietnam, “the VinFuture Prize comprises a Grand Prize of US$ 3 million, awarded annually for breakthrough research and technological innovations that improve the quality of human life, and create a more equitable and sustainable world for future generations,” which is “open to all, regardless of the candidate’s nationality, age, and gender.” In addition, “three Special Prizes of US$ 500,000 each with a focus on promoting diversity, equity, and new fields of study will also be awarded annually to Innovators from Developing Countries, Female Innovators and Innovators with Outstanding Achievements in Emerging Fields.” I am honored to participate in the nomination process for the VinFuture Prize.
December 2024
On December 18, Ms. Rui Zhao passed her master thesis defense with “Distinction of Thesis” from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Congratulations to Rui!
On December 18, Dr. Jiang received request to interview our most promising candidates in the MD-PhD Program of SOM at UNC.
On December 18, the Jiang lab received funding from UNC SOM to support his postdoc trainees. We appreciate the funding from UNC!
On December 17, Dr. Jiang presented studies in the “Last Gift CNS Working Group Meeting”. The title is “Histone decrotonylation regulates HIV latency in T cells and non-T cells”.
On December 10, Dr. Jiang delivered a talk at NIMH Satellite Symposium at the 11th HIV Persistence During Therapy Workshop at Ft. Lauderdale, FL.
November 2024
On November 26, Rui Zhao successfully defended her master’s thesis. Congratulations to Rui!
On November 18-20, Dr. Jiang presented a poster in the “Joint Meeting of the Martin Delaney Collaboratories for HIV Cure” at NIH in Rockville, MD. The title is “HISTONE DECROTONYLATION REGULATES HIV LATENCY IN BOTH T CELLS AND BRAIN MICROGLIA”
On November 18, Dr. Ciniso Shabangu joined the Jiang Lab as a postdoc associate. He just got his Ph.D degree in Medicine in Kaohsiung Medical University, Taiwan, focusing on HCV infection and its associated carcinogenesis. Welcome Ciniso!
On November 8, Dr. Hongjie Chen was informed that his abstract at this year’s HIV Persistence Workshop will be published as an online supplement to the Journal of Virus Eradication.
On November 8, Dr. Jiang was invited for a talk in the Satellite Session of “Leveraging Host Cellular Pathways for Targeting HIV CNS/Myeloid Reservoirs” hosted by NIMH at the 11th HIV Persistence During Therapy, in Fort Lauderdale, FL, on Dec 10-13, 2024.
On November 4, Dr. Waqas Ahmed joined the Jiang lab as a postdoc associate. Dr. Ahmed got his DVM degree in the University of Agriculture Faisalabad and Ph.D. degree in Huazhong Agricultural University, China. He has been trained as a postdoc in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, working on the development of anti-vector vaccine and the role of exosome in flavivirus transmission. Welcome Waqas!
October 2024
On October 28, Mr. Nikesh Katuwal joined the Jiang Lab as a research technician. He got his master degree in the Florida International University and was a technician in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at UNC. He will focus on tissue reservoir studies in the lab. Welcome Nikesh!
On October 25, Dr. Hongjie Chen’s abstract was accepted by 2024 HIV PERSISTENCE WORKSHOP taking place in Fort Lauderdale on December 10 – 13. The title is “HIV genome derived from the brain microglia isolated from PWH on ART” Congratulations to Hongjie.
On October 21, Mr. Trevor Shumate joined the Jiang Lab as a research technician. He was a tech in the Genetics Department at UNC working on the role of BRD4 in the regulation of development in the mouse model of diseases. He will help us with the CNS reservoir studies. Welcome Trevor!
On October 18, Dr. Jiang presented studies of the CDP award in B-HIVE. The title is “Persistent HIV transcription in the brain of people with HIV on ART”.
On October 16, Dr. Gidi Shemer, the Teaching Professor and Faculty Advisor for undergraduate biology majors, published a wonderful paper (https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2024.1465803) discussing the success of the SMART Program at UNC-Chapel Hill. The SMART Program has a major focus on the STEM research training for under-represented minority (URM) and first-generation students. The Jiang lab is honored to work with one of the SMART Program students, Mr. Eduardo de la Parra Polina. We have seen his academic success at UNC-Chapel Hill and will keep our eyes on his achievements in the future.
On October 09, Dr. Jiang was invited to join an NIH grant review panel for NIDA.
September 2024
On Sept 24, Dr. Jiang presented the data in The Collaboratory of AIDS Researchers for Eradication (CARE) meeting entitled “Histone decrotonylation and HIV latency”.
On Sept 17, Dr. Jiang met the research team at Tulane National Primate Research Center. He presented his studies with the title “Persistent HIV infection in the central nervous system”.
On Sept 4, Ms. Mia Hoxhaj joined the Jiang Lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Mia is a sophomore majored in Neuroscience & Health Policy and Management. Welcome Mia!
August 2024
On August 28, Mr. Charnold Xie joined the Jiang Lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Charnold is a sophomore planning to major in Public Health. Welcome Charnold!
On August 26, our collaborator at the University of Pittsburg received NOA from NIH. This R01 grant aims to understand the mechanisms involved in HIV-1 CNS latency. Congratulations to our U Pittsburg team!
On August 19, Ilana Wang joined the Jiang Lab as a research assistant. Ilana is a sophomore with a Neuroscience major at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Welcome Ilana!
On August 16, the Jiang Lab received funding from NINDS in collaboration with the UCSD group, focusing on epigenetic profiling of HIV-associated neuroinflammation.
On August 14, Dr. Jiang continued to serve as a Faculty member in the first-year group (FYG) in the BBSP Program 2024-2025. The FYG is a small, mixed-interest group of students and faculty and serves as an academic and advising home for first-year BBSP students until they affiliate with a PhD program.
On August 9, Mr. Jay Raval joined the Jiang Lab as a research assistant. Jay is a sophomore in UNC’s Accelerated Research Program, pursuing a dual major in Computer Science and Data Science. Jay will help us with data mining and data analysis from our Omics studies. Welcome Jay!
July 2024
On July 22, our collaborator at the University of California at San Diego received their NIH R01 funding. Congratulations to our UCSD research team!
On July 16, our collaborator at the University of Pittsburgh received a fundable score for their NIH R01 application. Congratulations to our UPitt research team!
On July 8, Dr. Jiang served as a mentor in the ID Pathogenesis T32 Postdoctoral Training Program in the Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases at the School of Medicine in UNC-Chapel Hill.
On July 1, to celebrate its 100th anniversary, the Journal of Clinical Investigation highlighted 29 articles on HIV research over the last 40 years (https://www.jci.org/articles/view/183039). These studies “have had a major impact on the understanding of pathogenesis and the clinical management of HIV-1 infection and have opened the door to current and future research…”. It was a great honor that our 2023 HIV brain microglia reservoir paper (DOI: 10.1172/JCI167417) was among these 29 studies!
June 2024
On June 26, Dr. Jiang delivered a talk at the B-HIVE Summer F2F Meeting in Bethesda, DC. The title was ” Persistent HIV transcription in the brain of people with HIV on suppressive antiretroviral therapy”.
On June 10, Dr. Jiang received a second R01 from NIH this year. This project will address the role of histone (de)crotonylation in HIV transcription and latency. Many thanks to all our collaborators, including Drs. Margolis, Archin, Strahl and Tang at UNC HIV Cure Center, Dr. Gianella in UC-San Diego, and Dr. Gumpper in the Pharmacology Department at UNC! We also want to thank all the current and previous lab members for their important contributions!
On June 6-7, the Jiang lab presented the data at the Annual CARE Meeting at Chapel Hill, NC. The titles were ” Histone decrotonylation plays a unique role in HIV latency” and “HIV persistence in the brain microglia: recent studies and future directions”.
On June 3, Dr. Hongjie Chen joined the Jiang lab as a postdoctoral visiting scholar. Dr. Chen will help us define the molecular mechanisms of HIV persistence in the human brain.
May 2024
On May 29, Dr. Jiang presented new data and discussed CDP year 2 Award plans with B-HIVE Program directors Drs. Bruce Torbett and Stefan Sarafianos.
On May 27, Ms. Gabriella Ahn started her summer research training in the Jiang lab.
On May 17, 2024, B-HIVE renewed Dr. Jiang’s funding for a second year of the CDP award to support research on the brain myeloid reservoir and epigenetics (http://www.hivecenter.net/news/).
On May 14, 2024, Dr. Jiang was nominated to apply for the USERN Prize 2024. This nomination is “based on the scientific profile and publications of the candidate as the first author or corresponding author in top-ranking (Q1) journals over the past two years”. Due to the USERN Prize’s age limit, Dr. Jiang has declined the application.
On May 6, 2024, Dr. Jiang received one R01 award from NIH. Many thanks to all our previous and current lab members for their hard work. We also wanted to thank our collaborators for their great support!
On May 1st, 2024, Dr. Xiaoyi Li joined the Jiang lab as a Postdoc Associate. Welcome Xiaoyi!
April 2024
On April 30, 2024, the CARE Program renewed the funding for our HIV cure-related studies for the forth year! Thanks to all the lab members for their great work!
On April 30, 2024, Dr. Xiaoyi Li delivered a talk at the spring Seminar in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. The title is “Histone decrotonylation plays a unique role in HIV latency”. Congrats to Xiaoyi!
On April 2, 2024, Dr. Jiang was elected for a Full Membership in Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society. For the last 138 years, “Sigma Xi induction has been a beacon of achievement in the careers of science and engineering’s most distinguished individuals.”, and “As the world’s largest interdisciplinary scientific honor society, Sigma Xi membership distinguishes the member as an exceptional contributor to the research enterprise.”
March 2024
On March 26, 2024, our abstract titled “The mechanisms of HIV latency and persistence in brain microglia during suppressive ART” was accepted by AIDS 2024, the 25th International AIDS Conference in Munich, Germany, from 22 to 26 July 2024. Congratulations to Dr. Tang.
On March 25, 2024, Mr. Jeswin Antony joined the Jiang lab. Welcome Jeswin!
On March 22, 2024, our collaborator at UC San Diego received a fundable score of R01 application. Congratulations to our UCSD team!
On March 14, 2024, our undergrad Brendon decided to join the Chemistry PhD program at The School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. Congratulations to Brendon!
February 2024
On Feb 26, 2024, Dr. Jiang served on the written exam committee in the BCBP department at UNC-Chapel Hill.
On Feb 23, 2024, our undergrad Ms. Brielle Thrasybule was accepted by The Summer Scholars Program in Genome Sciences and Medicine at Duke University. This 10-week Summer Scholars Program is supported by an NIH R25 grant. Congratulations to Brielle!
On Feb 21, 2024, our undergrad Mr. Eduardo de la Parra Polina was awarded a scholarship at BASF SE for his summer internship in Germany through the RISE Professional Program. Congratulations to Ed!
On Feb 16, 2024, Dr. Jiang was invited by the UK Research and Innovation from the United Kindom for a grant review.
On Feb 8-9, 2024, Dr. Jiang met the B-HIVE research team in the Annual Face-to-Face Meeting at Emory Conference Center with a talk entitled “HIV reservoir in the brain microglia”.
January 2024
On Jan 24, 2024, Dr. Xiaoyi Li was selected for a Lightning Talk in the 2024 UNC Global Health Scholars Symposium on February 16, 2024. Congrats to Xiaoyi.
On Jan 17, 2024, Dr. Jiang was invited by the NIH to join the Study Section for a grant review.
December 2023
On December 22, 2023, Dr. Jiang delivered a webinar on “HIV reservoirs in the central nervous system” at The Wistar Institute/UPenn. This was invited by BEAT-HIV and the “Last Gift” Program.
On December 14, 2023, our undergraduate student Mr. Brendon Brown received offers from the top Chemistry PhD Programs in the nation. Congrats to Brendon!
On December 8, 2023, Dr. Jiang received the CFAR I-SURC In-Person Meeting Travel Award at CROI 2024, Denver, USA.
November 2023
On Nov 15, 2023, our abstract entitled “The Extended Survival of Infected Brain Myeloid Cells Contributes to HIV Persistence During ART” was accepted for a presentation at the 2024 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) on March 3-6, 2024, in Denver, Colorado. Congrats to Yuyang!
On Nov 9, 2023, Dr. Jiang was invited for a talk in the “Ninth International Meeting on HIV Infection of the Central Nervous System” in Naples, Italy. The title is “Brain microglia as a persistent HIV reservoir: implications for cure”.
On Nov 6, 2023, Dr. Jiang delivered a talk in the “Last Gift Virtual Community Consultation Events” at UCSD. The title is “The stable HIV reservoir in the human brain microglia”.
On Nov 6 2023, our review paper entitled “The integrated stress response signaling during the persistent HIV infection” was accepted by iScience. The integrated stress response (ISR) signaling is involved in the regulation of HIV transcription and latency but was much less studied in the field. This prospective article summarized the related studies of the ISR signaling pathway, including those from the Jiang lab, in the maintenance of stable HIV reservoirs. This pathway could be a new target for the clearance of HIV+ immune cells for HIV cure.
October 2023
On Oct 26, 2023, our study in JCI paper was highlighted in the 64th NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (OARAC) meeting , addressing NIH HIV research program. The link is below:
https://videocast.nih.gov/watch=52216 (at ~3 hrs 43 min)
On Oct 24, 2023, Dr. Jiang was invited to have a Zoom Seminar talk at the Ohio State University Medical Center entitled “HIV reservoirs: from mechanisms to a possible cure”.
On Oct 20, 2023, Dr. Jiang was invited to have a Zoom talk entitled “The stable HIV reservoir in the human myeloid cells” in B-HIVE Program at the Seattle Children’s Hospital.
On Oct 12-13, 2023, the Jiang lab presented findings in the Strategies for an HIV Cure Meeting at NIH, Bethesda, USA: “HISTONE DECROTONYLATION UNIQUELY REGULATES HIV LATENCY” and “THE UNIQUE FEATURES OF HIV PERSISTENCE IN LONG-LIVED BRAIN MYELOID CELLS”
August 2023
On August 23, 2023, Dr. Jiang served on the faculty recruitment committee at BCBP.
On August 04, 2023, the Jiang Lab received an Award from the Collaborative Development Program in the Behavior of HIV in Viral Environments Center (B-HIVE) at the Seattle Children’s Hospital. B-HIVE is the part of Centers for HIV Structural Biology established by NIAID. This award will support our HIV CNS reservoir study.
July 2023
On July 26, 2023, we received NOA for our PO1 supplement application from NIH. Congratulations to our PO1 HOME team!
On July 25, 2023, our study on HIV reservoir in brain microglia was reported and highlighted by NIDA. This project has been supported by NIMH (R21MH128034) and partially by NIDA (R01DA055491).
https://mailchi.mp/nida.nih.gov/hiv-news-from-nida-march-10386991?e=fefff23625
On July 11, 2023, the Jiang lab received the R21 funding from NIAID for the support of our de-crotonylation study.
June 2023
On June 29, 2023, our undergraduate student Ms. Claire Chang was admitted into the University of Connecticut Medical School. Claire is the SURF winner and an outstanding undergraduate research assistant in the Jiang Lab when she was at UNC. Congratulations to Claire!
On June 20, 2023, our work on HIV reservoir in brain myeloid cells/microglia was reported by news agencies around the world:
https://www.idtransmission.com/understanding/hide-and-seek-with-hiv
https://news.bioon.com/article/aaf7e7804731.html
On June 1-2, 2023, the Jiang lab presented studies of de-crotonylation and HIV CNS reservoirs at the Annual CARE meeting at Chapel Hill, NC.
May 2023
On May 24, 2023, Dr. Xiaoyi Li joined the Jiang lab as a visiting scientist. Dr. Li worked on the pathogenesis of HBV during her graduate study.
On May 22, 2023, Mr. Brendon L. Brown started his summer research training in the Jiang lab.
On May 19, 2023, Ms. Brielle M. Thrasybule joined the Jiang lab for her summer research training. Welcome Brielle!
On May 18, 2023, Mr. Baird Cotsakis was admitted to VCU School of Medicine for his MD training. Baird spent about 2 years in the Jiang Lab for his undergraduate research training. During this time, he helped us identify an important pathway for the establishment of microglia latency HIV. Congrats to Baird!
On May 15, 2023, Mr. Yogesh Koppu joined the Jiang lab for his summer research training. Yogesh is a sophomore undergraduate majoring in neuroscience at UNC-Chapel Hill. He is interested in microglia and astrocytes and their biological functions in the nervous system. Welcome Yogesh!
On May 14, 2023, the Liu lab published the paper “Development of VHL-recruiting STING PROTACs that suppress innate immunity.” in the journal Cell Mol Life Sci. Our lab contributed some initial work to this study.
April 2023
On April 27, 2023, our undergraduate Mr. Daniel Zhong won the prestigious Eve Carson Scholarship with funding of $5,000 for a summer experience and $15,000 towards tuition for his senior year. This merit-based Scholarship awards excellent junior-year students who have exhibited passion and transformative growth since matriculation at UNC-Chapel Hill. Congrats to Daniel!
On April 26, 2023, our undergraduate Mr. Daniel Zhong presented his study at the 24th Annual Celebration of Undergraduate Research in the Blue Zone of Kenan Stadium at UNC-Chapel Hill, with the title “Block and lock” HIV persistence in Human Brain Myeloid Cells”. This is an exciting opportunity for the undergraduate trainees in the Jiang lab to showcase their studies and achievements to Tar Heels! Congrats to Daniel!
On April 25, 2023, our paper entitled “Brain microglia serve as a persistent HIV reservoir despite durable antiretroviral therapy” was accepted by the Journal of Clinical Investigation. This study defines microglia as a major replication-competent reservoir of HIV in the human brain under suppressive ART, which is uniquely controlled by epigenetic regulation but not the NF-kappaB signaling pathway. We greatly appreciated the team in the Jiang lab, our collaborators and their lab staff (UCSD, Emory, Upenn, and UNC), and the participants who donated their tissues for this wonderful study!
On April 13-14, 2023, Dr. Jiang met with the research team of the “Last Gift” Program and delivered a presentation at the PO1 HOME Annual Meeting held at UC-San Diego, USA, entitled “The persistent HIV reservoir in the human brain myeloid cells despite ART”.
March 2023
On March 8, 2023, Dr. Jiang’s abstract entitled “Epigenetic regulation of a persistent HIV reservoir in human brain myeloid cells despite durable ART” was accepted by NIDA Genetics and Epigenetics Cross-Cutting Research Team Meeting, which will be held on May 16-17, 2023 in the NIH main campus.
February 2023
On February 27, 2023, Dr. Tang delivered a wonderful talk on HIV CNS reservoirs in the 2023 CFAR series of a webinar entitled “Brain microglia are a persistent HIV reservoir despite durable antiretroviral therapy”. Congratulations to Dr. Tang.
On February 24, 2023, our undergraduate student Eduardo de la Parra Polina won the prestigious RISE Germany Scholarship for his summer research training in Germany. This Scholarship will cover his international travel costs, health insurance, and all costs for the RISE Germany meeting. He will work in a research lab with a study on HTLV-1 pathogenesis. Congratulations to Ed!
On February 19-23, 2023, our graduate student Ms. Gabriela Prates attended the annual CROI meeting in Seattle, with a poster presentation entitled “Innate immunity in HTLV-1 infection: IFN-alpha levels are upregulated in the early HAM”.
On February 17, 2023, Dr. Jiang gave a talk to overview the HIV reservoir studies in his laboratory in the ID Division.
On February 16, 2023, Dr. Jiang is invited for a talk (zoom) at the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center at UC San Diego. The title is “Definitive Evidence of a Persistent HIV reservoir in human brain myeloid cells despite ART”. We discussed our recent findings of HIV reservoirs in the human brain.
January 2023
On January 27, 2023, the Jiang lab’s presentation on HIV CNS reservoir in the Tenth International Workshop on HIV Persistence During Therapy was highlighted by the Scientific Committee in the Journal of Virus Eradication (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jve.2023.100315.). Congrats to Dr. Tang!
On January 23, 2023, Ms. Emily Sang joined the Jiang lab for her undergraduate training. Emily is a freshman student at UNC, planning to major in Biostatistics. Welcome, Emily!
December 2022
On Dec 19, 2022, Ms. Gabriela Prates joined the Jiang lab for her graduate studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. Gabriela is a Ph.D. student at the Institute of Tropical Medicine at the University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. She will work on HTLV and HIV pathogenesis in the Jiang lab, which is supported by FAPESP from Brazil. Welcome Gabriela!
On Dec 13-16, 2022, the Jiang lab presented brain microglia reservoir and de-crotonylation work in the Annual HIV Persistence During Therapy Workshop in Miami, USA.
On Dec 2, 2022, our paper entitled “Depletion of HIV reservoir by activation of ISR signaling in the resting CD4+ T cells” is accepted by iScience. We found that latent HIV evolves to suppress the host ISR/ATF4 signaling pathway to achieve its quiescent and stable infection in resting CD4+ T cells, which is a new target for HIV cure. Congratulations to Dajiang!
November 2022
On November 28, 2022, Dr. Theresa Simermeyer is selected to have an oral presentation in the upcoming HIV Persistence During Therapy workshop in Miami. Congratulations to Theresa!
On November 17, 2022, Dr. Theresa Simermeyer is awarded with a NIAID travel scholarship for the upcoming HIV Persistence During Therapy workshop in Miami. Congratulations to Theresa!
On November 15, 2022, the Jiang lab presented the work in CARE weekly meeting.
On November 15, 2022, Dr. Theresa Simermeyer presented her work in the weekly department Seminar at BCBP.
On November 4, 2022, Dr. Theresa Simermeyer’s abstract entitled “Histone decrotonylation uniquely regulates HIV-1 transcription and can be modulated to control HIV-1 latency” was accepted by in the annual meeting of HIV Persistence During Therapy in Miami.
On November 3, 2022, Dr. Jiang presented his work entitled “Histone de-crotonylation and HIV latency” at Carolina Chromatin Consortium (C3) in UNC-Chapel Hill.
October 2022
On October 25, 2022, our abstract “Definitive evidence of a persistent HIV reservoir in human brain myeloid cells despite ART” is accepted for oral presentation at the annual meeting of HIV Persistence During Therapy in Miami.
September 2022
On September 29, 2022, Brendon L. Brown joined the Jiang lab. Brendon is an undergraduate student majoring in Chemistry, with a minor in Health and Society. Welcome Brendon!
On August 29, 2022, our paper entitled “Lessons for Understanding Central Nervous System HIV Reservoirs from The Last Gift Program” was accepted for publication in Current HIV/AIDS Reports. This invited review article collaborated with UCSD team to thoroughly discuss the “Last Gift” cohort in our understanding of HIV CNS reservoirs in PLWH.
On August 25, 2022, Jiayi starts her BIOL395 class in the Jiang Lab. She will help us measure CNS HIV reservoir in cellular and tissue levels.
On August 05, 2022, our Abstract on the role of crotonylation in HIV transcription and latency was accepted by 2022 Chromatin Control of Viral Infection Workshop, which will be held at NIH on Sept 8-9, 2022. Dr. Jiang also received a travel award from this workshop.
On July 15, 2022, our prospective article was published in Neural Regeneration Research. This is an invited review article, summarizing the current view of HIV reservoirs in brain microglia and possible therapeutics of CNS HIV cure.
On June 20, 2022, our epigenetic study continued to be funded by Qura Therapeutics. We aim to investigate epigenetic regulation of HIV transcription/latency and develop specific small molecules for the study of HIV cure.
On June 16, 2022, our paper entitled “Silk Fibers Assisted Long-term 3D Culture of Human Primary Urinary Stem Cells via Inhibition of Senescence-Associated Genes: Potential Use in the Assessment of Chronic Mitochondrial Toxicity” was published in Materials Today Advances. This was the 2nd paper that collaborated with Dr. Yuanyuan Zhang at Wake Forest University to develop a novel 3D model of cell culture for drug development.
On June 16, 2022, Mr. Smaran Sivashankar joined Jiang’s lab as a pre-college student volunteer for his summer training. Welcome Smaran!
On June 2-3, 2022, the Jiang lab presented studies in the CARE Annual Meeting in Chapel Hill, NC USA. The titles were: “A direct role of histone crotonylation in the regulation of HIV transcription” and “Defining and targeting HIV reservoirs in the CNS”. Two related posters were also presented by Drs. Theresa L. Simermeyer and Yuyang Tang.
On May 19, 2022. Dr. Jiang was invited for a talk in the “XIV Seminar of Retrovirus Research” in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Title: “HIV reservoirs and the strategies to cure HIV”.
On May 11, 2022, our paper entitled “3D Spheroids of Human Primary Urine-Derived Stem Cells in the Assessment of Drug-Induced Mitochondrial Toxicity” was published in Pharmaceutics. This collaborated with Dr. Yuanyuan Zhang at Wake Forest University to develop a novel 3D model of cell culture for drug development.
On April 14, 2022, Daniel Zhong received the UNC Summer Research Award for his continued research training in the Jiang lab. Daniel will study HIV CNS reservoirs and help develop new CNS reservoir models. Congratulations to Daniel and thank Lilly for her assistance with the application!
On Feb 25, 2022, the Jiang lab invited Dr. Wenhui Hu to have a presentation in our weekly UNC ID Division seminar, entitled “Target-specific Delivery of CRISPR/Cas Genome Editors to Fight Virus Infection”.
On Feb 18, 2022, our paper entitled “Microglia-specific promoter activities of human HexB gene” was accepted by Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience. This study was a collaboration with Dr. Wenhui Hu’s group at Temple University to develop microglia-specific HIV gene targeting by CRISPR/Cas9 editing. Congrats to Lilly and our co-authors!
On Jan 28, 2022, our paper titled “HIV latency reversal via the induction of EGR1 to bypass PKC agonist-associated immune activation” is accepted by Frontiers in Microbiology. This work extends our efforts to develop latency reversal agents of PKC agonists while bypassing its PKC/cNF-κB signaling pathway to avoid immune activation. Congrats to Lilly and our co-authors!
On Jan 25, 2022, Dr. Jiang received the 2022 ASBMB Early Career Faculty Travel Award to present his work at the 2022 ASBMB Annual Meeting (April 2-5, 2022).
On Jan 24, 2022, Jiang’s lab abstract titled “Crotonate sensitizes IAPi in the disruption of latent HIV by modulating the ncNF-kB signaling pathway at the step of p100 into p52” was selected for presentation at the 2022 ASBMB Annual Meeting (April 2-5, 2022).
Eman Williams and Jiayi Du joined Jiang’s lab as undergraduate research volunteers. Welcome Eman and Jiayi!
Dr. Jiang assisted with MD/Ph.D. student recruitment at UNC School of Medicine.
On Dec 15, 2021, our paper entitled “Crotonylation sensitizes IAPi-induced disruption of latent HIV by enhancing p100 cleavage into p52” is accepted by iScience. Congrats to Dr. Li and all the co-authors.
On Nov 12, 2021, Dr. Jiang received the 2022 UNC CFAR Microgrant Award to support his study on gene editing strategy in the microglia directly derived from the brains of PLWH. The preliminary data collected from this study will be useful for the application of NIH funding in the future.
Starting Nov 09, 2021, Dr. Jiang will serve on the admissions committee for UNC Biological and Biomedical Sciences Program (BBSP). The committee discusses the scores of applicants and chooses potential candidates for interviews.
On Oct 26, 2021, our manuscript entitled “A Plausible Link of TMPRSS2/ACE2/AR Signaling to Male Mortality during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States” has been published in the Special Issue of COVID-19 in the Journal of “Pathogens”. This study reflected our efforts in understanding the gender disparities related to COVID-19 infection and death. Thank you, Lilly, for your great work!
On Oct 15, 2021, Dr. Jiang hosted a lecture in MCRO 630 entitled “The Basics of Retroviral/Lentiviral Replication”.
On Oct 13-14, 2021, the Jiang Lab was invited to present their work entitled “HIV reservoirs in the central nervous system” in the symposia of “Macrophage Infection by HIV: Implications for Pathogenesis and Cure” hosted by the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard.
On Oct 6, 2021, our book chapter entitled “Clinical Eradication of Latent HIV Reservoirs: Where are we now?” was published in the Frontiers in Clinical Drug Research: HIV. ISBN: 978-981-14-6443-0. The Editor of this book is Dr. Atta-ur-Rahman from the University of Cambridge. Congrats to Lilly for her hard work!
On Sept. 20, 2021, Dr. Theresa L. Simermeyer joined Jiang Lab as a postdoc research associate. Dr. Simermeyer received her Ph.D. from Wake Forest University in early Sept. 2021, working on the signaling pathway of SAMHD1 during DNA repair. SAMHD1 is also an HIV latency-related protein in resting CD4+ T cells. Welcome, Dr. Simermeyer!
On Sept 16-17, the Jiang lab presented his research plans in the kick-off meeting of the CARE Program in the upcoming years.
On August 23, 2021, Dr. Tang received her COVID-19 Supplemental Funding from UNC to support our scRNA-seq analysis of CNS cells isolated from animal or human brains. Congrats to Dr. Tang!
On August 16, 2021, Mr. Eduardo de la Parra Polina joined Jiang’s lab for his continued training after his summer SMART research. Welcome Ed!
On August 16, 2021, Ms. Skyler Noble joined our lab for her research training. Welcome Skyler!
Starting July 2021, Dr. Jiang will serve as a First-Year Group faculty mentor for the 2021-2022 BBSP graduate student class. FYG faculty are responsible for the conduct of research and presentations on BBSP student rotations.
On July 6, 2021, NIMH funded our collaboration RO1. Congrats to our UCSD team! Hopefully, exciting discoveries will be uncovered from both R21 and RO1 funding with the “Last Gift” cohort.
On June 16, 2021, the Jiang Lab received an R21 grant from NIMH entitled “Defining replication-competent HIV in the central nervous system”.
On June 3, 2021, Dr. Jiang was chosen as an NSURP mentor and will work with Mr. Brayan Ruiz for his summer study. Brayan is a Biology student at Franklin & Marshall College, PA. NSURP serves as a community-driven initiative to sponsor research opportunities for BIPOC and Latinx undergraduate students interested in microbial sciences and/or computational immunology. 2021 NSURP received ~250 student applications- Jiang Lab is among a cohort of 65! Welcome Brayan.
On June 1-4, 2021, Jiang Lab presented its work in the Keystone Symposia: HIV Pathogenesis and Cure.
On May 25, 2021, Dr. Pengda Liu was interviewed by WNCN for repurposing cancer drug, Lenalidomide, for COVID-19 treatment by modulating ACE2.
On May 19-20, 2021, a press release was published on Vital Signs School of Medicine, BCBP website, and Medical Xpress, regarding our recent paper “Lenalidomide downregulates ACE2 protein abundance to alleviate infection by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein conditioned pseudoviruses”.
On May 10, 2021, our paper “Lenalidomide downregulates ACE2 protein abundance to alleviate infection by SARS-CoV-2 spike protein conditioned pseudoviruses” was published online in Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy. This was in collaboration with Dr. Pengda Liu’s group at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and BCBP. Lilly played a major role in the in vitro infection models. Congrats to Lilly!
On April 6, 2021, Mr. Eduardo de la Parra Polina joined our lab. His training will be supported by the Science and Math Achievement and Resourcefulness Track (SMART) Program. SMART summer research accommodates undergraduate student minorities and STEM transfer students. Selected students will spend 9 weeks in research labs, starting mid-May. Welcome Eduardo.
On April 2, 2021, the CARE proposal from UNC HIV Cure Center received scores from the NIH UM1 study section where Dr. Jiang serves as co-Investigator.
From Feb-March, 2021, Dr. Jiang assisted with faculty recruitment for BCBP.
On March 26, 2021, Dr. Jiang served as the poster/oral presentation judge for BCBP 2021 Research Retreat.
On March 26, 2021, Ms. Lilly Wong presented her study entitled “Egr1 is a new transcription factor to directly regulate HIV transcription” at BCBP 2021 Research Retreat.
On March 15, 2021, Drs. Yuyang Tang and Guochun Jiang’s paper entitled “High prevalence of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) in São Paulo City, Brazil” was published in Rev. Bras. Neurol. 57(1): 6-12, 2021. This was in collaboration with a Brazilian group in São Paulo City, Brazil, aiming to characterize HAND among HIV+ men and women.
From Feb 5 to 18, 2021, Dr. Jiang assisted with UNC BBSP graduate student recruitment for Fall 2021.
On Feb 1, 2021, Mr. Daniel Zhong from UNC joined the Jiang lab as an undergraduate research assistant. Welcome Daniel.
Ms. Lilly Wong and Dr. Guochun Jiang’s review paper entitled “NF-κB sub-pathways and HIV cure: A revisit” was published online in EBioMedicine. This review article was recommended and highlighted by the Editors in the issue. Thank you, Lilly, for your great work!
Dr. Guochun Jiang’s proposal on “stress and HIV reservoir” was funded by Qura Therapeutics.
Drs. Guochun Jiang and Yuyang Tang’s proposal in defining HIV reservoirs in the central nervous system was funded by Qura Therapeutics.
Drs. Guochun Jiang and Yuyang Tang’s proposal entitled “Define viral persistence in brain astrocytes” was funded by NIAID/CARE supplement.
Our paper entitled “PEBP1 suppresses HIV transcription and induces latency by inactivating MAPK/NF-κB signaling” was published online in EMBO Reports.
Dr. Jiang was informed by PLoS Pathogens journal that his 2015 paper entitled “Synergistic Reactivation of Latent HIV Expression by Ingenol-3-Angelate, PEP005, Targeted NF-kB Signaling in Combination with JQ1 Induced p-TEFb Activation” has earned the top 10% of citations among papers published from 2014-2018.
Our paper entitled “PEBP1 suppresses HIV transcription and induces latency by inactivating MAPK/NF-κB signaling” was accepted by EMBO Reports. Thank you, Lilly, for your help in editing the manuscript!
Ms. Lilly Wong won an Evolve manual pipette starter pack for the Jiang Lab during a recent INTEGRA giveaway! Congrats to Lilly!
The Jiang Lab’s application for Efficient Freezer Rebate Program (EFRP) was approved by the Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee. With this support, EFRP funded $5,000 for the cost of a Stirling SU780XLE ULT freezer for Jiang Lab. As a Laboratory Safety Inspection Gold Medal Winner in 2019, the Jiang lab will continue to maintain a high standard for lab safety and use highly efficient equipment to make our campus greener than ever!
On May 18th, 2020, Dr. Jiang received the UNC Office of Research Development (ORD) Publication Grant for the cost of manuscript publications from his lab from 2020 until June 30, 2021.
Ms. Claire Chang received her UNC 2020 Summer Undergraduate Student Fellowship (SURF) entitled “Targeting Tat/P-TEFb for Deep Silencing of Latent HIV Reservoir”. Congratulations to Claire and thank you, Ms. Lilly Wong, for your work during the preparation of the fellowship!
Dr. Yuyang Tang’s paper entitled “Endogenous retroviral envelope syncytin induces HIV-1 spreading and establishes HIV reservoirs in the placenta” was accepted by Cell Reports. This project was collaborated with Meharry Medical College, UC-Davis, and Vanderbilt University. Congrats to Dr. Tang!
Our paper entitled “PEBP1 suppresses HIV transcription and induces latency by inactivating MAPK/NF-κB signaling” was accepted in principle by EMBO Reports. This is a collaboration with Zhu Lab at Fudan University. Ms. Lilly Wong was involved in some of the editing work of this manuscript. Thank you, Lilly.
Dr. Jiang received the 2020 Center for AIDS Research Developmental Award entitled “HIV Reservoirs in the central nervous system”.
Dr. Yuyang Tang’s proposal entitled “Identifying long-lived HIV-1 cellular reservoirs in the central nervous system (new QP4G)” was funded by Qura Therapeutics. Congratulations to Dr. Tang.
Dr. Jiang’s research paper entitled “Dual effects of the novel ingenol derivatives on the acute and latent HIV-1 infections.” is published in Antiviral Research.
Dr. Jiang (PI) received an award from Qura Therapeutic and NIH to support his deep latency studies.
Our review article entitled “Deep latency: A New Insight into a Functional HIV Cure” is published in EBioMedicine.
Dr. Jiang (PI) received funding from UNC Center for AIDS Research to support his HIV latency study.
Dr. Li and Dr. Tang presented two posters at the Annual meeting of UNC HIV Cure Center. Congrats to Dr. Li and Dr. Tang.
Ms. Michera Gentry joined Jiang’s lab as an undergraduate student Research Assistant. Welcome Michera.
Dr. Dajiang Li joined the lab. Dr. Li is an experienced virologist and molecular biologist working on EBV and KHSV. He was a Research Assistant Professor at the University of Utah. Welcome Dajiang.