Editorial introductions

Abstract

Current Opinion in HIV and AIDS was launched in 2006. It is one of a successful series of review journals whose unique format is designed to provide a systematic and critical assessment of the literature as presented in the many primary journals. The fields of HIV and AIDS are divided into nine sections that are reviewed once a year. Each section is assigned a Section Editor, a leading authority in the area, who identifies the most important topics at that time. Here we are pleased to introduce the Section Editors for this issue. SECTION EDITORS Daniel E. KaufmannDaniel E. KaufmannDaniel E. Kaufmann, MD, is currently an Associate Professor at the University of Montreal Hospital Research Center (CRCHUM), in Montreal, Canada, and a Visiting Associate Professor at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard in Cambridge, USA. He studied at the Schools of Medicine of Lausanne and Zurich, Switzerland. He specialized in internal medicine at the University Hospital of Lausanne before fellowship training in infectious diseases at the University Hospital of Lausanne and at the Massachusetts General Hospital of Boston, USA. Dr Kaufmann's research interests focus on two major areas: the causes of T cell impairment in HIV infection and the understanding of effective CD4 T cell help to combat or prevent this viral disease. He is particularly interested in molecular mechanisms that control a potentially reversible HIV-specific T cells dysfunction. He also studies the modulation of the functional plasticity of CD4 T cells in the inflammatory environment of HIV infection, in particular in individuals who present suboptimal immune restoration in spite of optimal viral control by therapy. The goal of these projects is the identification of molecular targets for adjuvant therapies that could complement ART. Another area of investigation is the identification of protective components of the T follicular helper response that allow generation of broadly neutralizing antibodies against diverse HIV strains, a likely key component of any future effective HIV vaccine. Dr Kaufmann also provides patient care and serves as attending physician in the Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases at the University of Montreal Hospital. Nabila SeddikiNabila SeddikiNabila Seddiki is a Senior Lecturer at the Paris-Est Créteil University (UPEC), France. She holds an INSERM “Chaire d’Excellence en Immunologie et Maladies Infectieuses” at Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale (IMRB) and the Vaccine Research Institute (VRI) in Créteil, France. Before that she was a Research Fellow at the Centenary Institute (University of Sydney, Australia) and then a Senior Scientist at the National Centre for HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (University of New South Wales, Australia). Dr Seddiki's research interests focus on the cellular and molecular characterisation of T-cell subsets. She is particularly interested in investigating the role of regulatory T cells (Tregs) and effector CD4+ T-cell subsets in HIV-1 infection. The highlight of her career so far is the discovery of a new means of accurately identifying human natural Tregs by using expression of cell surface CD25 (IL-2R-alpha) and CD127 (IL-7R-alpha). This work has been patented, licensed and is currently commercialized for research and clinical use worldwide. More recently, her work led to the identification and isolation of antigen-specific Tregs by using cell surface expression of CD25, CD134 and CD39. Lately, Dr Seddiki has been investigating the role of microRNA and chromatin remodeling in the regulation of target molecules during HIV-1 infection. All these studies aim at understanding HIV pathogenesis and deciphering the mechanisms that lead to CD4+ T cell depletion during infection.