Keynote
Ya-Chi Ho, MD, PhD
Associate Professor
Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Medicine (Infectious Diseases)
Yale University School of Medicine
Ya-Chi Ho is an Associate Professor in Department of Microbial Pathogenesis with a secondary appointment in Department of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) at Yale University School of Medicine. She works on mechanisms of HIV persistence and the clonal expansion dynamics of HIV reservoir. She received her MD (phi tau phi) and practiced as and ID attending physician in Taiwan and her PhD (phi beta kappa) at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. She discovered how immune selection pressure shapes HIV proviral landscape (Cell 2013, CHM 2017), pioneered single-cell profiling of HIV reservoir (STM 2020, Immunity 2022, Immunity 2023), identified HIV silencing factors and drugs (JVI 2023, JCI 2022), and identified HIV-host interactions in the 3D chromatin context (Genome Research 2023). She was elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the Interurban Clinical Club (established by William Osler in 1905). She a Yale Top Scholar, Alan Kaplan Prize awardee, Gilead HIV Scholar, Keynote Speaker in IAS 2023, and the Director of Graduate Studies for the Yale Microbiology PhD Program.
ESI Presentation
Li Du, PhD
Staff Scientist I
Vitalant Research Institute
Li Du is a staff scientist researcher in Dr. Satish Pillai’s lab at the Vitalant Research Institute. Her research is focused on understanding HIV-1 persistence and pathogenesis, particularly on modulating host factors to target HIV-1 persistence. The goal of her work is to uncover new strategies to disrupt HIV-1 reservoirs and enhance viral clearance, contributing to efforts toward an HIV cure. Li Du is currently working on the project under Dr. Pillai’s mentorship focused on studying the role of Galectin-9 in the persistence of HIV-1. Galectin-9 has been implicated in maintaining intact HIV proviral DNA during antiretroviral therapy, and it can reactivate latent HIV, increasing tissue HIV DNA and RNA levels. Her current focus is on evaluating P4D2, an anti-Gal-9 monoclonal antibody, as a potential therapeutic to target HIV persistence. Additionally, she is also working on developing novel antiviral therapies against SARS-CoV-2, addressing the ongoing challenges by the COVID-19 pandemic.