Wistar’s New HIV Cure and Viral Diseases Center is a Bold Step Toward Ending HIV and Other Viral Diseases

In Dr. Luis Montaner’s office hangs a portrait of Louis Pasteur, the grandfather of modern virology and immunology. The portrait serves as a beacon for Dr. Montaner’s 30+ years of work on HIV and other viral diseases and reinforces his commitment to making a lasting contribution to the field.

Dr. Montaner, Hebert Kean, M.D., Family Professor and director of the HIV Cure and Viral Diseases Center, referenced that portrait – and Pasteur’s own words – during the recent opening of the new HIV Cure and Viral Diseases Center. “Louis Pasteur once said, ‘chance favors only the prepared mind,’” he explained. “His words feel particularly important today. This Center is the result of decades of preparation, of hard science, of bold ideas, and enduring partnerships.”

Wistar’s new HIV Cure and Viral Diseases Center serves as a hub for numerous faculty-led programs targeting viruses with the greatest global disease burden. It also extends the work of the NIH-funded BEAT-HIV Martin Delaney Collaboratory, co-led by Dr. Montaner, Dr. James Riley at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Robert Siliciano at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Since 2016, this program has received tens of millions in funding to advance cure-directed trials, foster public-private collaborations, and strengthen community engagement.

“This Center comes at a pivotal time in our history,” he continues, “and presents an extraordinary opportunity to make Philadelphia the place where HIV ends.”

That quest toward finding a cure has gained momentum with a recent 5-year, $17 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, awarded to Wistar and its collaborators. The grant will be used to launch the iCure Consortium, designed to develop individualized “cure regimens” for HIV.

“For the first time, this new grant brings our best team together working toward a tailored cure strategy designed to each participant by pairing the latest in neutralizing antibody and cell-therapy breakthroughs against the unique, person-specific features of HIV,” explained Dr. Montaner.

The iCure Consortium aims to wake up the latent virus; target unique weak spots with tailored antibodies; destroy infected cells using “supercharged” CAR-T and NK cells; and enhance clearance and block relapse with bispecific binders. The project combines six advanced tactics—neutralizing antibodies, mRNA therapy, viral binders, engineered CAR-T and “Natural Killer” (NK) cells, and precision latency “wake-up” drugs—all designed against each patient’s unique virus.

Led by Wistar’s Dr. Montaner, the consortium will involve co principal investigators Dr. Drew Weissman, of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Dr. Robert Siliciano, of Johns Hopkins Medicine, along with Philadelphia FIGHT; the Ragon Institute at Harvard University; George Washington University; Duke University; and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“Is an HIV cure truly possible?” Dr. Montaner pondered. “15 years ago, I would have said no. Today I say yes with conviction.”

Though based in Philadelphia, Wistar’s HIV Cure and Viral Diseases Center has a vision thatn is global and extends beyond HIV. In fact, a recent paper published by the Montaner lab shows how research into the role of macrophages in HIV led to a potential discovery that may provide a novel therapeutic target that has the potential to make ovarian and other cancers more sensitive to immunotherapies.

Dr. Montaner said the study pointed to the importance of interdisciplinary research and how discoveries in one area of medicine, like HIV, can lead to breakthroughs in other fields like cancer.

“Our bodies were designed to survive in a hostile environment where you cannot predict what kind of threat you will encounter,” he said. “So, whether it’s autoimmunity, cancer, or infection, a lot of the same processes are engaged. When you learn how to manipulate or control a certain response, it is very likely it is reflected in other aspects of your disease research, which is exactly why advancing HIV research has broader benefits.”

During the opening of the Center, Dr. Montaner reminded attendees that Wistar isn’t just opening a lab — we are opening the next chapter of possibility to find an HIV cure within our lifetime. “We hold the hope of a world that needs us to succeed, and the belief that we will. That belief isn’t just optimism—it’s grounded in everything we’ve built.”

Quoting Seneca — “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity” — Dr. Montaner closed with a call to action: “Today we take a step together toward that future. And we’re doing that — together.”