Diana Huang, PhD

Biography

Interests and training for Diana Huang, PhD, involve studying viral pathogenicity and persistence after infection, from the virus perspective. She has worked previously with Herpes simplex-2 and influenza viruses, among other viruses, and currently with HIV. She has been working with HIV as a member of the Virology Quality Assurance Program funded through the NIH-Division of AIDS for ~20 years in various projects concentrating on HIV-1 genetic and phenotypic changes associated with antiretroviral resistance from both a domestic and global focus. She developed the pilot study for the model of the current VQA genotyping proficiency testing program, which evaluates the performance of laboratories associated with clinical trials groups to ensure accuracy in the test results obtained which are used to plan treatment strategy. She formerly was also awarded a contract from CONRAD. The focus of this contract was to examine the genetic and replication characteristics of HIV after long term growth in cultured cells in the presence of individual candidate drug compounds to assess for their potential to interfere with transmission of the virus during sexual contact. A subset of the compounds tested has shown unique characteristics that may enhance their utility to intervene with transmission.

Publications

Complete list of published work on PubMed

Complete list of published work on Scopus

Grants

HHSN272201200023C, Bremer PI, 9/21/12-9/20/19
NIH/NIAID
Virology Quality Assurance Program
Goals of the research portion of this project include facilitation of development of diagnostic assays for HIV/AIDS supporting clinical trials groups such as the AIDS Clinical Trials Groups. Current interest is development of single copy assays in support of the cure initiative. Through our International Donor Program collaborating with co-investigators at selected sites, the contract also collects samples of HIV and co-pathogens of interest for support of other program clients such as the WHO. This program is in its 4th renewal.
Role: Research Scientist

CONRAD MSA-07-460 2007-2010
Identification of Mutations Associated with HIV-1 Antiretroviral Resistance for Potential Combination RT-Entry Inhibitors for Use in Topical Vaginal Microbicides
This contract examined genotypic and phenotypic characteristics of HIV with CCR5 and CXCR4 affinities after long term growth in cultured cells in the presence of individual candidate microbicide compounds. We were able to identify a subset of a blinded panel that are NNRTI inhibitors, some of which have “tight binding” or “hypersensitive” phenotypes, based on their growth in PBMC cells. The compounds had possible utility as candidates for PREP. CONRAD stopped development of the compounds at the end of the funding period.
Role: Principal Investigator

Education

Research Areas