Jan Albert group

Project groups within the Jan Albert Group:

• Jan Albert Project
• Marianne Jansson Project

The group of Jan Albert consists of three senior group leaders (Jan Albert, Annika Karlsson and Marianne Jansson and Sarah Palmer). Each of the group leaders have their own special research interests, which are presented under the links above and in the text below. However, the common theme is studies of HIV and its interaction with the immune system aiming at better prevention of HIV transmission, better HIV therapy and a HIV vaccine.

The Jan Albert Project

Our research focuses on genetic and biological variability of HIV as well as the interactions between HIV and the immune system. We study how HIV evades humoral and cellular immunity. We also study the emergence and spread HIV variants that are resistant to antiretroviral drugs. We use molecular epidemiology to track the spread of HIV in Sweden and abroad. We take part in several EU projects, such as Eurocoord and CHAIN, as well as other international projects. Our current research also focuses on the development and application of modern Bayesian methods for phylogenetic inference. HIV prevention still relies solely on information campaigns and other behavioral interventions. To guide prevention it is essential to have correct and detailed information about the local and global HIV epidemic. Phylodynamics is a rapidly developing interdisciplinary research field, which we use to characterize the HIV-1 epidemics in Sweden, Latvia and Honduras.

A second area of research is the application of next generation sequencing and in particular ultra-deep pyrosequencing (454 sequencing) to dissect HIV evolution with a previously unattainable resolution. 454 sequencing allows ultra-deep sequencing and statistically meaningful quantification of low-abundance genetic variants, such as rare sequence variants in an HIV quasispecies. Using this novel technology we study several different aspects of HIV evolution, including the development of HIV drug resistance.