Despite great successes in the treatment of HIV infection, neither an efficient vaccine nor a cure for HIV with drugs is within reach. For patients with primary HIV infections, the Zurich Primary HIV Infection (ZPHI) study is investigating new treatment strategies, especially with regard to how far the latent HIV reservoir can be influenced, and is researching the biological basis of the transmission of HIV-1 viruses and other co-infections transmitted simultaneously. Particular emphasis is also placed on clinical presentation during acute HIV infection. This clinical research focus is a multidisciplinary initiative at the intersection of virology, epidemiology, immunology and bioinformatics. The study has been ongoing since 2002 and to date has enrolled > 360 patients with acute or recent HIV-1 infection.

The Swiss HIV Cohort Study is a long-term, multicenter clinical study that includes people infected with HIV. It conducts research in HIV medicine, basic, and social and preventive sciences. It started in 1988 and includes ~19,000 patients to date. It is crucial for the high quality of HIV medicine in Switzerland and for the better understanding of the interaction between HIV and the human organism. (www.shcs.ch, http://p3.snf.ch/project-148522)

This project aims to help better understand the biology of transmitted HIV-1 viruses. Therefore, viruses from individuals who pass them on to another person will be studied. In addition, we will systematically investigate why and how frequently superinfection can occur. Finally, we will study the transmission of resistant HI viruses and focus especially on non-B subtypes. The study is based on two high quality longitudinal patient studies: the Swiss HIV Cohort Study and the Zurich Primary HIV Infection Study.

HIV-X (Medical Research and Development Projects, SystemsX.ch)

There is still no treatment that can completely eliminate HIV from the body. One reason for this is the ability of the virus to form a latent reservoir. Scientists working on the MRD project HIV-X are now investigating how the HI virus evades treatment and want to develop models that can be used to individually predict how patients will respond to certain therapies. This project is also based on the SHCS and ZPHI studies, and over 1,300 patients are being studied.