AIDS Research

If we’re going to find a cure, it’s important that we find a cure that actually works for everybody - Rowena Johnston

AIDS Research
AIDS Research

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HWN Suggests

Half of H.I.V. Patients Are Women. Most Research Subjects Are Men


Inspired by reports of a second patient apparently freed of infection with H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS, scientists are pursuing dozens of ways to cure the disease.

But now, researchers must reckon with a longstanding obstacle: the lack of women in clinical trials of potential H.I.V. treatments, cures and vaccines.

Women make up just over half of the 35 million people living with H.I.V. worldwide, and the virus is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age. In Africa, parts of South America and even in the southern United States, new infections in young women are helping to sustain the epidemic.

Women and men respond differently to…

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Featured

 Did Science Miss Its Best Shot at an AIDS Vaccine?

For 35 years, researchers have been trying to beat the virus that causes AIDS. For just as long, Burt Dorman has been advocating another way.

 New Strain Of HIV Discovered

The mutation was discovered using next-generation sequencing technology, which allows researchers “to build an entire genome at higher speeds and lower costs.” Abbott used this new technology and coupled it with “new techniques to help narrow in on the virus portion of the sample to fully sequence and complete the genome.”

Articles of Interest

Bit by Bit, Scientists Gain Ground on AIDS

The “London patient,” apparently cured of H.I.V. infection, has gotten all the attention. But other recently revealed advances are more likely to affect the immediate course of the AIDS epidemic.

HIV Scientists Have Failed to Protect the World's Most At-Risk Women

PrEP drugs like Truvada can drastically lower the risk of HIV transmission. But young women in South Africa are pushing for a different kind of change.

The Battle of amfAR: How Elizabeth Taylor and Mathilde Krim Fought AIDS

The film isn’t clear about how amfAR formed from the merger of two early AIDS organizations, the New York-based AIDS Medical Foundation (of which Krim was a co-founder) and the Los Angeles-centered National AIDS Research Foundation, co-founded by Taylor. Both organizations were suffering from the lack of federal research support, and Krim understood that merging the two groups—especially with a money-magnet like Taylor as the public face of the combined effort—might draw the funding needed to do the basic research that was lacking. So Krim picked up the phone and called her. As Krim recounts the conversation (with a smile), “She almost immediately said yes. So we started amfAR.”

The Man Who Smelled Like Rancid Creamed Corn to Usher In a New Scientific Era

Over the past decade, a group of HIV activists has helped pioneer gene therapy.

Resources

amfAR

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and advocacy.

Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation

The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation seeks to prevent pediatric HIV infection and to eradicate pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs.

Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research

The Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR) was founded in 1987 and exists to end HIV in Canada by funding innovative research, dynamic partnerships and national awareness programs.

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative

IAVI''s mission is to ensure the development of safe, effective, accessible, preventive HIV vaccines for use throughout the world. IAVI is a global not-for-profit, public-private partnership working to accelerate the development of a vaccine to prevent HIV infection and AIDS.

UNC Center for AIDS Research

A research center with a fierce commitment to creating and translating knowledge that advances the fight against HIV & AIDS.

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