Thumbi Ndung’u

Thumbi Ndung’u has a laboratory at the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI) in Durban, South Africa, and also runs the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s HIV Pathogenesis Programme (UKZN HPP). He is interested in understanding antiviral immune mechanisms and viral adaptation in HIV-1 subtype C infection as a pathway to vaccine development. The development of a safe, affordable, and efficacious HIV-1 vaccine is perhaps the defining scientific challenge of our time. Rational vaccine design will require a better understanding of immune correlates of HIV-1 protection or control. His laboratory focuses on individuals who remain HIV negative despite possible repeated exposure to the virus and those infected who achieve durable viral control without the help of antiretroviral therapies. These individuals may hold the key to vaccine development or novel therapies.