USC professor pursues gene therapy research in quest for an HIV cure

Inside a laboratory at the USC Keck School of Medicine, Dr. Paula Cannon is pursuing one of medicine’s most difficult goals: a cure for HIV. But her path to science didn’t begin in a lab. Cannon originally worked in the music industry in Liverpool, England, during the early 1980s, just as the HIV/AIDS epidemic was beginning to devastate communities.

"I had friends who developed AIDS and started to die, and it completely changed what I thought I wanted to do," Cannon said.

Witnessing the crisis firsthand pushed her to change careers. She went back to school, earned a PhD and eventually moved to the United States to focus on studying viruses and immune systems. Today, Cannon is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at USC, leading research that uses gene therapy to strengthen the human immune system against viruses like HIV. Her team is exploring ways to engineer immune cells so they can produce powerful antibodies capable of stopping viruses before they can mutate.

"If you make this antibody, viruses will not be able to mutate away from it," Cannon said.

HIV remains one of the most challenging viruses scientists face because it embeds itself within human DNA, making it extremely difficult to eliminate. Cannon’s work focuses on altering immune cells to outmaneuver the virus, potentially opening the door to long-term cures rather than lifelong treatment. Her career spans more than three decades. But Cannon says early in her journey, the biggest challenge wasn’t the science, it was representation.

"I never once had a female professor or mentor," she said.

That’s something she’s working to change by mentoring young scientists and encouraging more women to enter the field. Outside the lab, Cannon has also found an unexpected role in Los Angeles, helping Hollywood tell better science stories. She has served as an advisor on TV shows including "Fringe" and "The Last Ship," helping writers develop believable storylines about viruses and outbreaks.

"Science does not have the same timeline as a 60-minute TV episode," she said.

But she believes those shows can help audiences better understand how scientists tackle global health threats. Back at USC, the passion for medicine also runs in the family. Cannon’s daughter is now a professor at the Keck School of Medicine studying patients suffering from long COVID. Together, they approach disease from different angles, one studying the virus itself, the other focusing on how it affects patients.

Decades after watching friends die during the early AIDS crisis, Cannon says her motivation remains the same.

"I’d like people to be able to say, ‘I had HIV.’"

And with advances in gene therapy and immune engineering, she believes science may finally be getting closer.