HIV/AIDS
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infects nearly 30 million people worldwide. Each year 2 million people die from HIV-related causes, the vast majority of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa—where prevalence rates can reach one-third of the adult population in some countries. Because HIV attacks and weakens the immune system, it facilitates the invasion of other “opportunistic” pathogens, which in many cases are fatal. The most common of these opportunistic infections is tuberculosis, a bacterium that attacks the respiratory system. According to the WHO, HIV is the “single most important factor contributing to the increase in incidence of TB since 1990.”
T-cell infected with HIV
Although anti-retroviral therapy for HIV has successfully reduced the mortality rate associated with the virus, there are a number of challenges with current treatments. The drugs are often prohibitively expensive, and must be taken at the same time every day. They can have damaging side effects, including nerve damage and metabolic disorders, and difficult to tolerate for those with inadequate access to food. There is no vaccine against HIV.
Gregory Barton, Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology
- TLR-mediated immune activation
- Retroviral delivery of small interfering RNA into primary cells
Wayne Getz, Professor, College of Natural Resources, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management
- Mathematical modeling of the HIV and TB epidemics in South Africa
Nancy Padian, Professor, Epidemiology
- Evaluating female-controlled methods for HIV prevention
- Reducing women’s susceptibility to HIV/AIDS through economic independence
Arthur Reingold, Professor, Epidemiology
- Epidemiology of opportunistic infections in AIDS patients
- Interrelationship between tuberculosis and AIDS in developing countries
David Schaffer, Professor, Chemical Engineering
- Molecular mechanisms of HIV-1 latency
- Optimizing therapies to suppress HIV: novel mechanisms of viral escape
Qiang Zhou, Professor, Molecular and Cell Biology
- The role of transcriptional elongation in HIV replication