Northwestern University · BiologyThe Viral Persistence Lab
Thomas Hope · Evanston, Illinois
Research Focus
Dr. Thomas Hope's lab at Northwestern University focuses on understanding how HIV persists in the body despite treatment. They study the role of specific immune cells, especially myeloid cells, in supporting virus survival and contributing to viral rebound when treatment stops. By using advanced imaging techniques and working with animal models, they aim to identify the main targets of HIV in tissues, which can help in developing new strategies for curing HIV and preventing transmission.
HIVviral reboundmyeloid cellsantiretroviral therapySIVviral persistenceImmunoPET-CTtissue reservoirsHIV transmissionnon-human primates
Research Aims
5AIM 01Investigate how HIV persists in tissues during antiretroviral therapy.
AIM 02Identify the specific immune cells that support HIV persistence and rebound.
AIM 03Explore the dynamics of viral populations during the rebound phase after treatment interruption.
AIM 04Develop innovative imaging techniques to study viral reservoirs in vivo.
AIM 05Determine how both innate and adaptive immune responses influence viral rebound.
Skills the Lab Values
PCRanimal modelsImmunoPET imagingflow cytometrycell culturenecropsy techniquestissue analysisdata collectionbioinformaticsimmunological assays
Output against the department
Publications432top 10% of dept.104th of 1,033
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations20ktop 20% of dept.210th of 1,033
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.