We are fundamental scientists that investigate the molecular mechanisms that contribute to HIV latency and develop tools to characterize and quantitate the replication competent reservoir in PLWHIV. Using both candidate approaches and unbiased screens we identify novel druggable molecular targets for pharmacological intervention, which we characterize mechanistically and functionally in vitro models of HIV latency and in cells obtained from c-ART suppressed PLWHIV. We also use unbiased approaches to identify candidate new drugs, focusing on FDA/EMA approved novel therapeutics, for HIV latency reversal and induction of cell death in re-actiactivated cells, which we mechanistically and functionally characterize in various in vitro models of latency.We then test the effectiveness of putative novel candidate therapeutics to eliminate the reservoir ex vivo in cells obtained from PLWHIV study volunteers using various assays that probe the reservoir at the DNA level, at the transcriptional and translational competent levels.