 This research proposal is aimed at the development of a novel multidisciplinary approach to optimize HAART in HIV infected children. It is increasingly clear that inter-individual variation in drug metabolism and responsiveness has a strong genetic component. The metabolic pathways leading to drug clearance, bio-availability, and cellular responses are complex, and only beginning to be understood. Key to our understanding of inter-individual responses is identification of the genetic polymorphisms that contribute to this variability, the relative contribution of different genesSNPs, and the possible interactions between the corresponding protein products or pathways. We propose to develop a dosing regimen of PIs in HIV-infected children that takes into account genetic variability in drug metabolism and transport, and resistance of the dominant viral strain as determined by virtual phenotype. 