Driving progress in HIV vaccines & cure strategies

The Keystone Symposia meetings on HIV Vaccines: Intersections of Basic and Clinical Science, and Decoding HIV Persistence: Strategies for Curing HIV Infection, were held conjointly from 16 to 19 April 2026 at the Beaver Run Conference Center in Breckenridge, USA.  Bringing together leading researchers working across HIV prevention, vaccine development, and cure research, the programme was organised by SANTHE Scientific Advisory Board member, Penny Moore, University of the Witwatersrand/National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South Africa, as well as Marit van Gils, Amsterdam University Medical Centers (UMC), Meibergdreef/De Boelelaan, Amsterdam, and Kevin Saunders, Duke University, Durham, USA.

The joint meeting, including SANTHE affiliates: Doreen Disthwanelo, Delories Sikuku, and Sam Rashelo, from the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Catherine Koofhethile, Botswana Harvard Health Partnership (BHP), Gaborone, Botswana; Gisele Umviligihozo, Center for Family Health Research (CFHR), Kigali, Rwanda, Aubin Nanfack, Centre International De Référence Chantal Biya, Yaoundé, Cameroon; Marcel Tongo Passo, Centre de Recherches sur les Maladies Émergentes et Ré-émergentes (CREMER), Yaoundé, Cameroon; Matrona Akiso, Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative (KAVI), Nairobi, Kenya; Eunice Nduati, KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP), Kilifi, Kenya; and Paradise Madlala, HIV Pathogenesis Programme (HPP), Durban, South Africa; highlighted growing intersections between basic virology, immunology, and clinical strategies aimed at both preventing HIV infection and advancing toward durable remission or cure.