The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to spread in the US and globally, requiring a need for researchers and physicians to be on the front lines of research. Advances in research have allowed individuals living with HIV to live long and healthy lives. The Davey Lab at UC San Diego is dedicated to solving real-life problems and directly helping communities affected by HIV and AIDS.

Dr. Smith’s primary research involves both the transmission of HIV (e.g., molecular epidemiology, superinfection, biologic correlates of transmission) and HIV reservoir dynamics (e.g., characterizing HIV shed from the genital tract, and virus associated with neuropathology). The Davey Lab seeks to understand the factors that drive HIV transmission and persistence. A vaccine and cure may lie in yet-to-be-discovered ways that will interrupt transmission and uncover silent pockets of HIV that emerge when treatment lapses or fails. Studies in progress range from technology-intensive “bench” research to the intimate, community-based Last Gift Study.

Collaborations between basic, clinical, behavioral, and translational research help prevent, detect, and treat HIV infection. To foster these collaborations, Dr. Smith utilizes the San Diego Center for AIDS Research (SD CFAR), one of several centers funded by the National Institutes of Health. The CFAR provides core facilities, including biostatistics and modeling, clinical investigation, flow cytometry, genomics and sequencing, protein expression and proteomics, as well as translational virology, and others. These core facilities provide access to crucial equipment and services needed to foster cutting-edge HIV research.