HIV Drug Resistance

Global Dialouge at Virtual Conference

text: Paul Harris

At the beginning of September, members of the KRISP team took part in the International Workshop on HIV Drug Resistance and Treatment Strategies Virtual Conference, where they shared new insights as part of the DTG RESIST Study Group.

Dr. Jennifer Giandhari and Shirelle Naidoo presented posters showcasing their latest research. Dr Giandhari’s work examined mutations in the 3’ polypurine tract of nef that may influence dolutegravir efficacy, while Naidoo presented on the detection of low-frequency integrase inhibitor resistance mutations using next-generation sequencing. The KRISP team, led by Dr Richard Lessells, contributed to four other poster presentations and one oral presentation from the DTG Resist study. These contributions highlight KRISP’s commitment to understanding how resistance emerges and evolves in different HIV-1 subtypes across Africa.

Reflecting on the experience, Dr Giandhari noted: “The conference, although virtual, felt very close knit with several promising opportunities to collaborate further.” Shirelle Naidoo added: “I found the conference to be very beneficial because the topics covered were very relevant to our study group, with useful discussions around laboratory work and methodology.”

– Dr Jennifer Giandhari, KRISP

The conference also featured a keynote address by Professor Tulio de Oliveira, who spoke on advances in pandemic genomic surveillance and the importance of maintaining strong surveillance systems for HIV drug resistance to support the global HIV response.

His talk was warmly received and underscored KRISP and CERI’s leadership in applying genomics to epidemic control.

This workshop followed on the heels of KRISP’s participation at the 13th IAS Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2025) in Kigali this past July. There, the same team presented another DTG RESIST poster comparing Sanger and Illumina sequencing to detect resistance mutations, contributing to a programme that featured over 1 400 scientific posters and 142 oral abstracts.

Together, these presentations reinforce KRISP’s role in global HIV research collaborations, advancing knowledge that informs global treatment and monitoring strategies. Well done to our team and all collaborators across Africa and around the world who continue to drive this important work forward.