Dr. Burdo’s research interests are centered around human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated co-morbidities, HIV-associated chronic inflammation, and HIV cure. This work involves three main foci 1. HIV-associated cardiovascular disease and cardiac fibrosis, 2. HIV viral persistence and pathogenesis in the peripheral and central nervous systems, and 3. Use of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing approaches in HIV cure in non-human primates.
Dr. Burdo has developed an extensive research resume in cardiovascular complications in HIV. Her group has published several high-impact publications on chronic immune activation in people with HIV (PWH) who also have HIV cardiovascular disease (CVD). They are interested in better understanding the mechanisms through which HIV infection mediates monocyte/macrophage activation to produce accelerated atherogenesis. The laboratory specifically investigated whether HIV expression is sufficient to accelerate atherosclerosis and evaluated the role of caspase-1 activation in monocytes/macrophages in HIV. Their data highlight that caspase-1 activation is highly relevant to immune dysfunction and activation even among ART-treated PWH, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) is not sufficient to prevent CVD. With emerging evidence in humans and extensive research in the preclinical model, they have established the crucial role of the immune system and inflammasome in driving HIV-associated atherosclerosis.
Dr. Burdo has a long-standing interest in chronic immune activation in neurocognitive impairment in HIV and is one of the leading basic scientists in neuroHIV research in the world. In collaboration with colleagues at Washington University, Dr. Burdo uses quantitative measures of immune dysfunction in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid to understand the differential effects of cannabis exposure on peripheral and brain inflammation within people with HIV. Dr. Burdo is an internationally recognized expert in the use of non-human primate models. In collaboration with colleagues at UPENN, her laboratory examines the persistence and pathogenesis of a novel SHIVD transmitted/founder virus in the central nervous system of a non-human primate model. Understanding how HIV-1 persists through effective ART is essential to develop cure strategies to induce ART-free virus remission. They are also developing and testing both global and myeloid-targeting CRISPR gene editing approaches on CNS reservoir reduction using SHIV non-human primate models.
Dr. Burdo has initiated HIV cure studies using CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing using the non-human primate model of HIV and has published two recent manuscripts in Nature Communications. Dr. Burdo is the PI and Co-Director of the prestigious Martin Delaney Collaboratory grant entitled “CRISPR for Cure,” which uses CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in a non-human primate model of HIV to target both viral and host genes. The overarching goal of this program is to use genome editing mediated by CRISPR to enhance immune responses and directly ablate HIV proviruses. Dr. Burdo directs one of the three research foci of this Collaboratory aimed to enhance effector cell function and killing and limit viral spread by target cells using innovative genome editing.