Luis J. Montaner is an American researcher and executive vice president at The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, where he leads the Institute’s HIV Cure and Viral Diseases Center as its founding director.[1] Since 2016, Montaner has also served as the principal investigator of the NIH-funded BEAT-HIV Martin Delaney Research Collaboratory, a research consortium that aims to find a cure for HIV through a combination of strategies targeting the viral reservoir.[2] [3]
Montaner's laboratory has made several discoveries concerning potential HIV and AIDS treatments. In 2012, his laboratory reported that the AIDS virus could be suppressed by boosting the immune system, thereby reducing patients' reliance on existing antiviral drugs.[4] [5] In 2014, it was announced that the AIDS service organization Philadelphia FIGHT has partnered with the Wistar Institute on the largest clinical trial to date that would use interferon to strengthen the immune system in patients infected with the HIV-1 virus. The clinical trial is supported by a four-year, $6.2 million grant.[6]