Cutting-edge amfAR grants fight HIV/AIDS in the lab and on the phone

$1.6 million awarded in new round of HIV/AIDS research grants and fellowships

NEW YORK, February 27, 2009 – Most parents of teenage children have experienced frustration at their sons' and daughters' obsession with text messaging. But what if this ubiquitous technology could be used to save lives? At the University of Dar es Salaam in the East African nation of Tanzania, a country where few have landlines but most own a cell phone, that is precisely what Dr. Joyce Nyoni is trying to do.

amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, today announced that it will fund three projects, including the work of Dr. Nyoni, that are harnessing social networking technologies to prevent the spread of HIV infection. Dr. Nyoni will recruit a small number of men who have sex with men (MSM), who in turn will recruit other MSM, to receive and send regular text messages containing HIV/AIDS information. At the end of her study, Dr. Nyoni will assess the changes in knowledge and behavior that she hopes will result from the program.

In addition to searching for novel ways to prevent HIV infection, at the other end of the research spectrum amfAR announced the award of six new grants for innovative biomedical research studies aimed at advancing the treatment and cure of HIV/AIDS.

On the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth, it is fitting perhaps that one of the grantees will use our deepening understanding of evolution to identify new targets for anti-HIV drugs. Dr. Sara Sawyer of the University of Texas at Austin will base her study on the Red Queen hypothesis, which suggests that organisms must continue to evolve just to keep up with the other organisms that surround them. Arguing that mutations in cell proteins that compromise HIV's ability to grow will be favored over time, Dr. Sawyer hopes to identify those that show the greatest promise as drug targets.

A third group of awards is allocated specifically to younger scientists who often have the greatest difficulty finding support for their work but who represent the long-term viability of AIDS research. Four of these Mathilde Krim Biomedical Research Fellowships were awarded for a total of close to $500,000. Only in its second year, the Krim Fellowships have already yielded spectacular results. In January alone, three Krim Fellows authored papers in leading scientific journals describing novel strategies for vaccine development, drug design, and prevention of heterosexual transmission of HIV. The new Fellowship recipients will examine viral latency and new targets for microbicide and anti-HIV drug development.

"HIV does not slow down in a recession," said Dr. Rowena Johnston, amfAR's vice president and director of research. "In fact it's more important than ever to fund projects with the potential to help those who are hit hardest in times like these. These new awards focus on the fundamental needs of the field of HIV/AIDS research: new prevention technologies, new treatments, recruitment of young researchers, and progress towards a cure."