Recently the surface proteins of HIV, collectively known as envelop proteins, or Env, have generated promising results by their ability to increase the reactivity of the immune system cells, a process vital for eradicating the virus from the body. However, HIV-1 Env is highly dynamic and has high mutation rates, making vaccine design extremely challenging. A soluble form of Env, gp145 is a candidate for vaccine design. Therefore, structural characterization of gp145 is a crucial step in designing an immunogen-based vaccine. This protein will be expressed and characterized by electron microscopy and other studies.