Dr Nilu Goonetilleke talks about her research within the CHAVI project (NIH Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology). In the course of HIV infection, the fate is set early, since the early immune response is an important factor in determining the clinical course of the disease. Most patients are infected with a single transmitted founder virus. The first stages of the infection are of crucial importance: the first effective immune responses drive the selection of virus escape mutations. Strong innate and adaptive immune responses occur subsequently but they are too late to eliminate the infection. Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales; http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/uk/