Ward De Spiegelaere
Papers
1
Total Citations
80
H-Index
1
About
Ward De Spiegelaere is a leading virologist whose research focuses on HIV persistence, latency, and the mechanisms that prevent a cure. His most impactful work centers on understanding how HIV hides within the body despite effective antiretroviral therapy. In a landmark 2017 study, cited over 80 times, De Spiegelaere and his team developed a novel high-throughput sequencing method to map HIV integration sites in latently infected cell lines. This work provided compelling evidence of ongoing viral replication, challenging the long-held notion that the latent reservoir is purely static. By revealing the dynamic nature of HIV persistence, his contributions have reshaped strategies for cure research, highlighting the need to target both latent and actively replicating virus. De Spiegelaere’s innovative approach to integration site analysis has become a critical tool for the field, offering new insights into how the virus evades eradication and informing the design of next-generation therapies aimed at achieving a functional cure.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1