Nicolas is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Université de Montréal – CHUM Research Center. He obtained his PhD in medical virology at Pierre et Marie Curie University in Paris. During his post-doc, he described several cellular reservoirs that contribute to the persistence of HIV in infected individuals receiving antiretroviral therapy. He pursued his research as a principal investigator to characterize these reservoirs which represent the main obstacle to HIV eradication. Dr. Chomont is overseeing studies to unravel the molecular mechanisms involved in HIV latency and to develop novel therapeutic strategies aimed at reducing the size of the HIV reservoir.
Dr. Rémi Fromentin, PharmD, PhD, Research associate
Rémi is research associate in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Université de Montréal and at the CHUM Research Center. He holds a PharmD from Université F. Rabelais (France) and a PhD from Université Laval (Canada). His research focuses on understanding the immunological mechanisms that allow HIV to persist in people with HIV receiving antiretroviral therapy, with the goal of advancing strategies toward long-term HIV remission or a cure. When he is not working in the lab, Rémi loves to cultivate his garden and gather with his friends over gargantuan meals.
Amélie Pagliuzza, Msc, Research assistant
Amélie joined the lab in 2015. A part of her job is to take care of the lab organization, and assist other lab members on their projects. Besides that, she works on several collaborative projects in which she measures the size of the HIV reservoir in samples from participants in clinical trials. Using assays developed in the lab, Amelie can detect and measure the frequency of the few infected cells that persist in people receiving antiretroviral therapy. Amélie is the queen of PCR and TILDA!
Miriam Rosas Umbert, PhD, Post-doctoral fellow
Originally from Barcelona, Míriam joined the lab in September 2024. She obtained her PhD in HIV immunology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at Aarhus University, Denmark, where she studied immune-mediated control of HIV in functional cure trials. She is now investigating how and where the latent HIV reservoir is established during acute infection, aiming to identify the mechanisms that drive its formation. Outside the lab, Míriam loves exploring, knitting and being out in nature — you can always find her in the mountains.
Armando Espinosa-Ortiz, MSc, PhD candidate
Born in Mexico but raised in Paris, Armando joined the lab in January 2021. He obtained a Master degree in Virology at Sorbonne Université during which he studied the antiviral effects of interferon on HIV replication. He is currently working on understanding how antigen driven T-cell proliferation shapes the HIV reservoir.
Camille Poliquin, MSc candidate
Born in Laval, Camille has completed her bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Montreal. Her deep-rooted love for biology and her curiosity for immunology and virology led her to join our research team in 2023 for an internship as an Honor student. Through her implication in the lab, she is particularly excited to deepen her knowledge about HIV reservoirs. Outside of the lab and the world of academia, Camille trains for triathlon, she loves cooking and reading books.
Gabriel Lapointe-Guay, MMus, Summer student
Gabriel is a first-year medical student at the Université de Montréal. In the summer of 2026, he joined Dr. Chomont's laboratory as an interne recipient of the PREMIER program award. His research project focuses on the extraction of viral DNA and RNA from various tissues collected from three generous study participants, one of whom experienced a viral blip near the end of life, followed by nucleic acid amplification and sequencing. As part of this work, he optimized the HIV PULSE technique, which uses unique molecular identifiers (UMIs) to simultaneously sequence multiple DNA fragments of varying lengths. Alongside his scientific training, Gabriel also holds a master's degree in flute performance and continues to perform with orchestras in his spare time.
