PRP: Prof Claire Hoving

Professor Claire Hoving is a basic immunologist whose research aims to understand host immune responses to disease with a particular focus on HIV-related opportunistic infections. Fungal infections are often an overlooked clinical and public health issue but cause significant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. Despite their high prevalence, there are very few researchers dissecting the mechanisms of fungal infection in Africa, yet research in this field will provide new insights into protective immunity and may lead to improved treatments for immunocompromised patients.

Claire’s group currently investigates the pathogenesis and host immune responses to:
1) Pneumocystis jirovecii, a common cause of pneumonia and death in patients with advanced HIV disease.
2) Emergomycosis africanus, a newly identified fungal pathogen in HIV patients and currently the most commonly diagnosed dimorphic fungal pathogen in these patients in South Africa.
3) Co-infection between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and opportunistic fungal pathogens.