PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In this review, examples of recent progress in HIV-1 vaccine research are discussed. RECENT FINDINGS: New insights from the immune correlates analyses of the RV144 efficacy trial have accelerated vaccine development with leads to follow in nonhuman primate studies and improved vaccine designs. Several new vaccine vector approaches offer promise in the exquisite control of acute infection and in improving the breadth of T-cell responses. New targets of broadly neutralizing antibodies (BnAbs) have been elucidated, and improved understanding of how the human host controls BnAb development have emerged from BnAb knock-in mice and from analyses of BnAb maturation and virus evolution in individuals followed from the time of HIV-1 transmission to BnAb induction. SUMMARY: Based on these observations, it is clear that the development of a successful HIV-1 vaccine will require new vaccine approaches and iterative testing of immunogens in well designed animal and human trials.