Dr. Jayaseelan Boobalan is an early career researcher who is currently working as an Assistant Professor, in the Molecular Biology division of the Y.R. Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research & Education (YRGCARE), in the field of HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis viruses for the last 10 years under the guidance of Dr. S. Saravanan. He is associated with various ACTG/NIH supported studies related to different spaces of HIV and Hepatotropic infections and its drug resistance.

Dr Boobalan’s key areas of research involve the molecular characterisation of HIV, HBV, HCV and its quantification for treatment monitoring, validation of cost-effective pooling HBV DNA PCR for detecting occult HBV among HIV-1 infected drug naive individuals in southern India, the prevalence of virological failure among HIV infected patients on first-line ARV therapy, and validation combined Pooling NAT+DR assay for the monitoring of patients with HIV and validation of DBS for the quantification of HCV and drug resistance. Though ART suppresses the viral load remarkably, it must be taken lifelong on a daily basis, necessitating the need for prospective studies for HIV eradication.

Dr Boobalan’s current work focusses on care and support for patients with HIV in India. His personal interest and motivation is the cure research area to save the lives of the people that are suffering from this hazardous disease and to give them better restorative therapy.