Professor Clive Gray

Country: South Africa

Institution: University of Cape Town

Research Areas: HIV Immunology and immune regulation

Lab Website: www.idm.uct.ac.za/Clive_Gray

Immune ontogeny in HIV exposed infants. Due to the efficacy of ARV prevention of mother to child transmission, it is rare that we now see HIV infected children in our clinics and hence my focus on the exposed infant. The central question is why these infants do poorly. We hypothesise that HIV-induced inflammation from the mother results in perturbed immunity in the neonate and weakened immunity.

Placental investigations and pre-term birth. We are looking at the impact of antiretroviral (ARV) treatment timing on adverse birth outcomes in HIV infected mothers, with the hypothesis that initiation of ARV drugs during gestation causes inflammation in the placenta and precipitates pre-term birth. We are measuring placenta pathology along with markers of inflammation and the different populations of Treg cells along with macrophage polarization using multiparameter flow cytometry and tissue imaging.

Epithelial immunity in the foreskin. We are seeking to understand the mechanisms of Medical Male Circumcision (MMC)  and gain insight into how HIV is acquired in the male genital tract. Foreskin tissue is richly endowed with HIV target cells and is a major site for HIV acquisition in the uncircumcised male.