Organization: Institut Pasteur
Country: France
Asier Sáez-Cirión is a scientist at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France. Originally from Portugalete, Spain, he obtained his PhD from the University of the Basque Country in 2001. His early work focused on the study of the interaction of viruses with lipid membranes. Following a postdoctoral period at the US FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in Bethesda, he joined the laboratory of Françoise Barré‑Sinoussi at the Institut Pasteur in 2003. He was recruited as a tenured scientist at the Institut Pasteur in 2007 and currently leads the Viral Reservoirs and Immune Control Unit.
Through the study of unique clinical cohorts and non‑human primate models, his work has contributed to understanding the cellular and immune factors that influence the establishment and persistence of HIV, as well as the immune mechanisms linked to spontaneous or post‑treatment HIV-1 control. His research is currently focused on translating this knowledge into novel therapeutic strategies to target HIV reservoirs and enhance immune responses against HIV to achieve durable remission.
Asier co-chaired the ANRS Working Group on HIV Reservoirs from 2011 to 2018 and was the Chair of Sidaction’s Medical and Scientific Committee from 2017 to 2025. He is a member of the ERASE HIV MDC Collaboratory, the EU2Cure consortium and the ACUTE-NET network. He leads the VISCONTI study, which first introduced the concept of HIV remission after interruption of early antiretroviral therapy. Since 2015, he has been the coordinator of the French Task Force on HIV Remission & Cure (ANRS-MIE RHIVIERA). He has served as a scientific expert for multiple international bodies, including the European Research Council, World Health Organization, Medical Research Council, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Aidsfonds, amfAR and the National Institutes of Health.
His engagement with the IAS began as a rapporteur at the Towards a Cure workshop at AIDS 2010 in Vienna. As a member of the Towards an HIV Cure Working Group, he helped draft the 2016 IAS Global Scientific Strategy. He was a Track A Scientific Committee member for IAS 2014 and IAS 2017 and Track A Co‑Chair for AIDS 2024.