David van de Vijver
Departnemt of Virology
Erasmus MC, University Medical Centre Rotterdam, The Netherlands

                  Principles of HIV Drug Resistance

The use of combinations of different classes of antiretroviral drugs
has dramatically reduced mortality among patients infected with HIV.
But the success of antiretroviral treatment is frequently limited by
the emergence of HIV drug resistance. Importantly, drug resistant
viruses can be transmitted to newly infected individuals. Transmission
of drug resistant HIV is a major concern, as it could lead to a situation
in which no effective drugs are available for the treatment of HIV.

Less than 1% of all individuals living in the European Union are infected
with HIV. Large scale studies on drug resistant HIV can therefore only be
performed when several hospitals collaborate. ViroLab has been established
to build a virtual laboratory which facilitates such a collaboration.

In this seminar, I will discuss the pharmacological, virological and
epidemiological principles of HIV drug resistance. I will also discuss the
important role computer science plays in research on drug resistant HIV.

(ViroLab is supported by the European Commission IST-027446)

Further reading:
www.virolab.org
http://www.hiv.lanl.gov/content/sequence/HIV/REVIEWS/2006_7/VAN/van.html