Bluma G. Brenner

Dr. Bluma Brenner is internationally recognized for her studies identifying signature drug resistance pathways to HIV-1 antiviral drugs. In the last several years, she has received funding from Merck Sciences and Gilead characterizing drug resistance to novel HIV drugs, including islatravir, doravirine, bictegravir, dolutegravir and cabotegravir. She has also gained international recognition for her work using sequence datasets derived from the provincial drug resistance testing program to track HIV transmission dynamics at a population level. Her 2007 publication in the Journal of Immunology has been cited 801 times to date. Her current studies are aimed at applying genetic and cell-culture bases strategies to better understand HIV transmission and design proactive HIV treatment as prevention strategies. In recent collaborations with Nadine Kronfli, Milt Paliouris and Mark Trifiro, she is developing a novel plasmonic PCR strategy for use in point-of-care testing of HIV-1, hepatitis C and COVID-19.