A special session at the recent Australasian HIV/AIDS conference featured new research from the Kirby Institute. Dr Scott Ledger presented work on HIV gene therapy in mice. The results show blocking of both virus entry into cells and HIV production. He showed that a single stem cell treatment enabled mice to maintain CD4+ T cell…
Chinese scientists used CRISPR gene editing to alter CCR5 in stem cells from a 27 year old male. The edited cells were transplanted back into the man who was living with HIV and leukaemia. This was to protect against HIV without finding a donor with the CCR5-delta32 mutation, as was done for the Berlin and…
Keystone symposia bring together focused groups of scientists to discuss unpublished research. They provide insights into the current thinking around scientific topics. This year’s Keystone symposium ‘Functional Cures and the Eradication of HIV’ took place in late March. We spoke to Kirby Institute researcher, Chantelle Ahlenstiel to find out what caught her attention. Can latent…
I. Introduction In recent years, a global movement has arisen towards finding a cure for HIV. While we remain many years away from a cure that could be offered to the almost 37 million people living with HIV throughout the world, researchers are exploring a number of approaches that might one day bring an end…
CRISPR/cas9 is a gene-editing strategy acting like a targeted pair of scissors. The technology has generated a lot of excitement, especially in the field of HIV. This is because it can target specific genes, and potentially remove HIV from infected cells. A recent study has been widely reported this month as bringing us one step…
Calls to unite HIV positive people in the struggle to control the HIV epidemic have opened the International AIDS conference in Durban, South Africa. From grandmothers rallying to demand treatment access and recognition to discussions of psycho-social issues associated with cure research participation, the conference is set to draw plenty of international attention. From scientific…
A new study shows that using gene scissors to remove HIV from an infected cell may not be as effective as hoped. Several years ago, it was shown that specialised gene scissors could remove specific genes, such as CCR5, that would stop HIV in its tracks by making cells resistant to infection. These gene scissors…
The news broke in April 2013. Danish researchers were mere months from finding a cure for HIV. As other media outlets eagerly picked up the Telegraph’s electrifying report, word coursed lightning-swift online and through social media, stoking hopes that talk of ending the HIV epidemic,increasingly common of late, might soon become reality. There was one…
Researchers significantly reduced HIV levels in mice with a genetic therapy that induces immune cells to better fight the virus. Publishing their results in Molecular Therapy, researchers engineered a molecule known as a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) and inserted a gene for that molecule into blood-forming stem cells, which they transplanted into mice genetically engineered…
This beautiful photographic essay was compiled by The Alfred in Melbourne, and all credit for this article goes to their amazing teams and the people they care for. This article is shared with permission of The Alfred.
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Working together with researchers and clinicians at The Alfred, members of the community of people living with HIV in Victoria have been integral to progressing ...
