HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins

The need for a vaccine against HIV is obvious, but the development of an effective vaccine has met with frustrations. The HIV envelope glycoproteins, residing in the viral membrane, are the sole viral proteins exposed on the outside of virus particles and are therefore major targets for vaccine design. The first part of this thesis describes research aimed at understanding the folding and function of the HIV-1 envelope glycoproteins and their properties underlying the effective viral immune evasion. The second part of the thesis describes the design of modifications of the envelope glycoproteins that should improve their properties as vaccine antigens.