Showing Grants 1 to 10 of 13 |
| A New Way to Prevent HIV Infection During Breastfeeding |
| | David Sokal, Family Health International, Durham, NC, United States - US |
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David Sokal of Family Health International in the U.S., with colleagues at Cambridge and Drexel Universities, will develop and test low-cost filters coated with safe microbicides that can be inserted into tips of nipple shields to prevent HIV transmission during breastfeeding. |
| A Non-Pathogenic Chimeric THLV-1/HIV-1 Viral Genome as a Model to Study Superinfection Restriction |
| | Kuan-Teh Jeang, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, United States - US |
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Kuan-Teh Jeang of the National Institutes of Health in the U.S. will investigate whether cells infected by one virus become resistant to infection from other viruses, and if this viral interference can confer protection against HIV. The team will develop an attenuated virus to test whether over-expression of viral envelope proteins within cells can confer resistance to further HIV infection. |
| A Novel Therapeutic Strategy to Control HIV-1 Infection |
| | Qugui Yu, Indiana University, Indianaoplis, IN, United States - US |
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The complement system, part of the innate human immune reaction which helps clear viruses and other pathogens, is thought to be inactivated by HIV. Qigui Yu of Indiana University School of Medicine in U.S. will attempt to reverse this inactivation in an effort to render HIV and infected cells susceptible to complement-mediated attack. |
| A Small Molecule That Blocks Male-to-Female Sexual Transmission of HIV |
| | David Eisenberg, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States - US |
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Recent evidence suggests that HIV infection may be drastically enhanced when a specific protein found in human semen is present in fibril form. David Eisenberg of UCLA in the U.S. will design and test a small peptide that can effectively block formation of fibrils on this protein. If successful, the therapy could be administered via spray or liquid drops to inhibit transmission of HIV. |
| Breastmilk shield to prevent HIV transmission |
| | Gadi Borkow, Cupron Inc., Greensboro, NC, United States - US |
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Gadi Borkow of Cupron, Inc. in the U.S. will study the efficacy of using newly developed copper-oxide based filters that deactivate a wide range of viruses, including HIV-1, as a shield to enable HIV-infected mothers to breastfeed their infants without risking transmission of the virus. |
| HIV Protease-Dependent Activation of a Cytotoxic Prodrug |
| | Craig Crews, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States - US |
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For viral replication, HIV viruses are dependent upon proteins, called proteases, to appropriately cleave peptides and form functional viral particles. Craig Crews of Yale University in the U.S. will attempt to exploit these proteases by designing a drug that will cleave only to HIV protease and release a cytotoxin that results in programmed cell death. |
| Immunotherapy with iPS Derived From HIV-1 Specific B-Cells |
| | Irvin Chen, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States - US |
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HIV destroys helper T cells, which are essential to activation of B-cells. Irvin Chen of UCLA in the U.S. will utilize inducible pluripotent stem cell technology to generate a constant, self-renewing source of antigen-specific B-cells, which target conserved HIV epitopes to eliminate HIV-infected cells. |
| Mortalizing HIV – A Novel Method to Help Eradicate HIV |
| | Reuben Harris, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United States - US |
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A high HIV mutation rate enables escape from powerful immune responses and anti-retroviral drugs. Reuben Harris of the University of Minnesota in the U.S. will test the hypothesis that HIV requires the human APOBEC3G protein to maintain a high mutation rate necessary for HIV survival. Inhibiting this protein may slow the mutation rate and make the virus more susceptible to immune responses. |
| Novel HIV-1 Env Immunogens for Immuno-Focusing |
| | Ruth Ruprecht, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, United States - US |
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Ruth Ruprecht of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the U.S. will develop a new vaccine platform for HIV based on the hypothesis that immunodominant regions of the virus may be irrelevant to neutralizing the virus and also prevent access to neutralizing epitopes in conserved regions. The team will also use structural mimics of important epitopes in an effort to generate a strong, broadly neutralizing antibody response against these conversed sites. |
| Prevent HIV Infection by Naturally Occurring Antivirals |
| | John Fahey, Darmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States - US |
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To harness a woman’s immune system to prevent HIV-1 infection, John Fahey and Charles Wira at Dartmouth Medical School in the U.S. will identify SERMs (selective estrogen receptor modulators) similar to those used for treating breast cancer and osteoporosis that can induce local immune protection in the reproductive tract against HIV without compromising normal reproductive function or increasing the risk of HIV infection. |