Our Science – Palmer Website

Sarah Palmer, Ph.D.

HIV DRP Host Virus Interaction Branch Special Volunteer Virology Core Facility HIV Drug Resistance Program, National Cancer Institute NCI-Frederick, P.O. Box B, Bldg. 535, Room 108D Frederick, MD 21701-1201 Phone:   Phone Number not listed Fax:   Fax Number not listed E-Mail:   sarah.palmer@smi.ki.se

Biography

Dr. Sarah Palmer received her M.A. and Ph.D. (1996) in Medical Sciences (Virology) at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden, and was a postdoctoral fellow (1997-1998) under the direction of Dr. Thomas Merigan at the Center for AIDS Research, Stanford University Medical Center. From 1998 to 2000, Dr. Palmer was Program Manager of the Viral Resistance and Clinical Trials Group, Infectious Disease Research Department, Southern Research Institute. She joined the HIV Drug Resistance Program in August 2000 as Staff Scientist and Manager of the Virology Core. In 2008, Dr. Palmer joined the Swedish Institute for Infectious Disease Control at the Karolinska Institute.

Research

Studies of Clinical Resistance

Aside from performing 'standard' analyses in the Virology Core, a very important aspect of our work is the development of novel and innovative analyses for the virological studies undertaken within the DRP. For example, one of our first responsibilities is to develop a quantitative assay for HIV in clinical samples that will allow measurement of virus load with much greater sensitivity than can be reliably attained with currently available tests. This assay will form the cornerstone of a clinical protocol being developed by Drs. Frank Maldarelli and John Mellors, in association with both the NCI and NIAID AIDS programs. The goal of this protocol is to monitor and quantitate the HIV load in patients whose virus has apparently been controlled by conventional therapy, and to determine whether the very small amounts of virus sporadically detected in such patients by conventional means represent ongoing replication or simply occasional release of virus from a latently infected cell reservoir. To accomplish this aim, we require an assay that provides reliable quantitation of virus at levels 100-fold below that available from commercial assays.

A second clinical study in which we are participating with Drs. Maldarelli and Mellors is Protocol Number 00-I-0110, which is designed to intensively monitor the genetic variation in drug-naïve patients at very frequent intervals. This study requires the development of methods for obtaining very large numbers of sequences from virus circulating in plasma. Although the necessary high-throughput sequencing itself will be carried out by the NCI Molecular Technology facility, the front-end processing of very large numbers of samples by PCR following end-point dilution, as well as analysis of the data, will be our responsibility.

A third area of our research involves the selection and analysis of HIV variants resistant to antiviral drugs and other replication inhibitors. The DRP is establishing collaborations with other NIH and extramural researchers to develop new screens for novel targets (such as RNase H) and to analyze compounds for resistance profiles. An important part of these projects will be to develop an understanding of how these new targets behave under selection pressure, to estimate fitness decreases due to resistance mutations, and to predict what the effect of drug therapy might be when specific antiviral compounds are administered to patients.

This page was last updated on 7/15/2008.