Dra. Maria José Buzón Gómez

Since 2015, I am the head of the HIV Translational Research Laboratory, located at the Vall d'Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), which belongs to the Infectious Diseases Department. I obtained my PhD in 2010 at AIDS Research Institute, Irsicaixa in Barcelona, and completed my postdoctoral training at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard in Boston, where I was promoted to Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School in 2014. My scientific interest has focused on the study of the HIV reservoirs that persist despite antiretroviral therapy (ART). I provided the first evidence that new rounds of cryptic viral replication were happening in the presence of ART (Nat Med 2010), and identified reservoir cells with stem-cell-like properties contributing to HIV long-term persistence (Nat Med 2014). My investigations are now focused on the characterization of new cellular reservoirs, the identification of novel latency reversal agents, and the design of new immune-targeted approximations aimed at depleting the latent reservoir. Recently, my lab has identified the new marker CD20 as a potential target for the transcriptionally active HIV reservoir (Nat Com 2019), has characterized the fraction of virus that can be awakened with current latency reversal agents in different populations (Plos Path 2019), and has developed new nanotechnological strategies for the elimination of the viral reservoir (NanoToday 2021). Besides, I am also a member of several evaluation panels (MINECO and AES grant calls), act as an abstract reviewer for several congresses (CROI, IAS and GESIDA), and participate in different scientific committees and international collaborative networks (BEAT-HIV Delaney Collaboratory Group). I have also contributed to innovation with 3 research patents. Importantly, I have been a recipient of several awards, including the CFAR Young Investigator Award (Harvard University Center for AIDS Research), the MGH ECOR Tosteson Award and the “International Raising Talents 2016” from the L'Oreal-Unesco Foundation For Women in Science.
A complete list of publications can be found here https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1TwfYvrCsLtkW/bibliography/public/