My laboratory focuses its investigations on the interactions between HIV-1 and immune cells that regulate viral replication, transmission, and persistence. The specific research projects currently conducted in the laboratory include:

• Studies of cellular restriction factors and role of HIV accessory proteins in the mechanisms of escape from innate/intrinsic immunity
• Studies of HIV-host interactions governing HIV replication and transmission in lymphoid and myeloid cells
• Humanized mouse as a model of HIV infection in vivo
• Role of host microRNAs in regulating HIV replication, transmission and persistence

These studies have the potential to enable the development of new therapeutic and vaccine strategies against HIV.

Methodology and approach

Given the scope of our research questions, we employ a wide variety of molecular biology, biochemistry, cell biology, and immunology techniques to study HIV pathogenesis. Individuals trained in our laboratory systematically acquire specialized knowledge in each of these experimental approaches. In addition to using human cell lines as a model, we use human primary immune cells, biological material sampled from individuals infected with HIV, in vivomodel of HIV infection in humanized mice, and gene disruption methods to study the function of specific genes in vivo. Our studies benefit from the technology platforms available at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM), including those put in place for virology (biocontainment laboratories at level 2 and 3), as well as those for immunology, genomics, proteomics, flow cytometry, microscopy, histology, transgenesis, and gene disruption.

Dr. Éric A. Cohen is Director of the Human Retrovirology unit at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM). He is also Professor of Virology at the Department of Microbiology, Infectiology and Immunology of the Faculty of Medicine of Université de Montréal and recipient of the Canada Research Chair in Human Retrovirology. Since 2009, he also serves as Leader of the Immunity and Viral Infection Research Division at the IRCM.

Dr. Cohen holds a B.Sc. in Biochemistry from McGill University and a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from Université de Montréal (Ph.D. under the supervision of Dr. Yves Langelier). During his Postdoctoral training (under the supervision of Dr. William Haseltine) at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard University, he contributed significantly to the global efforts to characterize the genetic organization and structure of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). His initial work led to the discovery of two proteins, Vpr and Vpu, which belong to a class of HIV proteins, named accessory proteins, whose role is to promote viral persistence in spite of the host adaptive and innate/intrinsic immune responses. Dr. Cohen’s current research directions aim to better understand HIV-host interactions regulating viral replication, transmission, and persistence using state-of-the-art experimental approaches.

Since 2014, Dr. Cohen leads the Canadian HIV Cure Enterprise (CanCURE: www.cancurehiv.org), a pan-Canadian collaboration dedicated to the study of long-lived HIV reservoirs and the development of effective therapeutic strategies towards an HIV Cure. This scientific program is supported by the Canadian Initiative for HIV Cure Research, created through a partnership between the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR), and the International AIDS Society (IAS).

Dr. Cohen is a member of numerous scientific committees, funding organizations, and international scientific journals. He is also author of over 135 manuscripts and books published in high-impact scientific and medical journals, as well as the holder of several international patents. Dr. Cohen is strongly involved in the Canadian and Quebec scientific community in the field of HIV/AIDS. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the AIDS and Infectious Disease Network of the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé (FRQ-S). He is also a member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research HIV/AIDS Research Advisory Committee (CHARAC). Dr. Cohen was awarded the Marcel-Piché Prize (2012) in recognition of the excellence of his research. He was also awarded the Pierre-Bois Prize (2014) for his valuable contributions to the development and promotion of the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal.

15 publications les plus significatives (révisées par un comité de pairs):

• Bego, M.G., Bérubé-Côté, É., Aschman, N. Mercier J., Weissenhorn, W. and Cohen, E.A. Vpu Exploits the Cross-Talk between BST2 and the ILT7 Receptor to Suppress Anti-HIV-1 Responses by Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells. PLoS Pathog. 11(7):e1005024. July 2015. PMID 26172439.

• Pham, T.N.Q., Lukhele, S., Hajjar, F., Routy, J-P, and Cohen, E.A. HIV Nef and Vpu Protect HIV-Infected CD4+ T Cells from Antibody-Mediated Cell Lysis through Down-modulation of CD4 and BST2. Retrovirology 11: 15 2014. PMID: 24498878.  Selected by Retrovirology as a highly accessed article

• Bego, M., Mercier, J., and Cohen, E.A. Virus-activated IRF-7 upregulates expression of the interferon-regulated BST2 gene independently of interferon signaling.  Journal of Virology, 86(7): 3513-3527, 2012. PMID22301143.

• *Belzile, J-P, *Abrahamyan, L.G., Gerard, F. C., Rougeau, N., Cohen, E.A.Formation of mobile chromatin-associated nuclear foci containing HIV-1 Vpr and VPRBP is critical for the induction of G2 cell cycle arrest. PLoS Pathogens, 6(9) e1001080, 2010. PMID 20824083. CIHR. Featured on the cover of the September 2010 issue of PLoS Pathogens.

• Dubé, M., Roy, B.B., Guiot-Guillain, P., Binette, J., Mercier, J., Chiasson, A. and Cohen, E.A. Antagonism of Tetherin restriction of HIV-1 release by Vpu involves binding and sequestration of the restriction factor in a perinuclear compartment. PLoS Pathogens 6(4):  e1000856, 2010. PMID 20386718 CIHR. Selected by Thomson Reuters ScienceWatch^® as a featured New Hot Paper in Microbiology.

• Richard, J., Sindhu, S., Pham, T. NQ, Belzile, J-P and Cohen, EA. HIV-1 Vpr upregulates expression of ligands for the activating NKG2D receptor and promotes NK cell-mediated killing. Blood: 115(7): 1354-1363, 2010. PMID 20008788.

• *Belzile, J.-P., *Duisit, G., Mercier, J., Rougeau, N., Finzi, A. and Cohen, E.A. HIV-1 Vpr-mediated G2 arrest involves the DDB1-Cul4A VprBP E3 ubiquitin ligase. PLoS Pathogens. 3(7): e85, 2007. PMID 1914068.

• Lum, J.J., Cohen, O.J., Nie, Z., Weaver. J.G., Gomez, T.S., Yao, X.J., Lynch, D., Pilon, A.A., Hawley, N., Kim, J.E., Chen, Z., Montpetit, M., Sanchez-Dardon, J., Cohen, E.A. and Badley, A.D. Vpr R77Q is associated with long-term non-progressive HIV infection and impaired induction of apoptosis. Journal of Clinical Investigations 111(10): 1547-1554, 2003. PMID 12750404.

• Mouland, A.J., Mercier, J., Luo, M., Bernier, L., DesGroseillers, L. and Cohen, E.A. The double-stranded RNA-Binding protein Staufen is incorporated in human immunodeficiency virus type 1: Evidence for a role in genomic RNA encapsidation. Journal of Virology 74(12): 5441-5451, 2000. PMID 10823848.

• Subbramanian, R.A., Kessous-Elbaz, A., Lodge, R., Forget, J., Yao, X.J., Bergeron, D. and Cohen, E.A. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vpr is a positive regulator of viral transcription and infectivity in primary human macrophages. Journal of Experimental Medicine 187(7): 1103-1111, 1998. PMID 9529326.

• Lodge, R., Lalonde J.P., Lemay, G. and Cohen, E.A. The membrane-proximal intracytoplasmic tyrosine residue of HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein is critical for basolateral targeting of viral budding in MDCK cells. The EMBO Journal 16(4): 695-705, 1997. PMID  9049299.

• Cohen, E.A., Dehni, G., Sodroski, J.G. and Haseltine, W.A. Human immunodeficiency virus Vpr product is a virion-associated regulatory protein. Journal of Virology 64(6): 3097-3099, 1990. PMID 2139896.

• Cohen, E.A., Terwilliger, E.F., Jalinoos, Y., Proulx, J., Sodroski, J.G. and Haseltine, W.A. Identification of HIV-1 Vpr product and function. Journal of Acquired. Immune Deficiency Syndrome 3: 11-18, 1990.  PMID 2136707. 

• Cohen, E.A., Terwilliger, E.F., Sodroski, J.G. and Haseltine, W.A. Identification of a protein encoded by the Vpu gene of HIV-1. Nature 334: 532-534, 1988. PMID 3043230.

• Cohen, E.A., Gaudreau, P., Brazeau, P. and Langelier, Y. Specific inhibition of herpes virus ribonucleotide reductase by a nonapeptide derived from the carboxy terminus of subunit 2. Nature 321: 441-443, 1986. PMID 3012360.