amfAR funding for HIV research

VBS Professor Pamela Skinner, was recently awarded funding from amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education, and advocacy. Although cytotoxic T cells and NK cells are some of the most effective pathogen killers in the immune system, they are ineffective against the HIV reservoir in the body because they do not easily access the regions of the lymph node where most of the virus resides. Dr. Skinner and her team plan to engineer CAR-T and CAR-NK cells to target HIV-infected lymph nodes. The team will also modify CAR-T and CAR-NK cells to overcome the exhaustion to which immune cells are prone, which reduces their ability to resist becoming HIV-infected cells themselves. For more information please see "amFAR Awards $1.5 Million to Researchers Pursuing Innovative Approaches to Eliminating the HIV Reservoir."