darpunsmd

That's a really good question and it's one of the major challenges facing the field. Currently, several HIV vaccine candidates are trying to target highly conserved regions of the HIV envelope (outer structure of HIV). These highly conserved regions do not evolve rapidly like many other parts of HIV. We know that generally speaking in HIV infection broadly neutralizing antibodies often develop, but these antibodies typically do not neutralize virus. The goal at this time in the field is to stimulate broadly neutralizing antibodies that target highly conserved regions of HIV and neutralize the virus.

1. I hope not because I don't know too much about zombies.
2. I read about that but it is not my area of specialization
3. Bridge HIV has been working on HIV vaccine studies since the late 1990s.
4. I see HIV-infected patients every week in my role as an Infectious Disease fellow.
5. So it all starts with an idea in a lab. Scientists conduct experiments that suggest that a particular vaccine candidate may prevent infection or delay progression of HIV. This product is typically tested in non-human primate model. The vaccine candidate then progresses to small human studies testing for safety and then larger human studies testing for safety and efficacy. Eventually a very large randomized clinical trial must be performed to determine if the vaccine candidate works in a given population.

There is no 'good' strain of HIV. A very small minority of indivduals who are HIV-infected are long-term nonprogressors, but many times even these people develop AIDS and require antiretrovirals. We think that long-term nonprogressors may have special genetic and immune responses that alter the normal progression of disease, as opposed to the virus having special properties.

We are not sure when an effective HIV vaccine will be ready. We think that we are probably several years away from a successful vaccine. We are currently conducting several safety studies with promising new HIV vaccine candidates.

As a care provider for HIV-infected patients it is hard for me to tell someone that they are HIV-infected and need to start lifelong medications. While we can treat HIV with effective once-daily medications, I would prefer to get to the root cause of the problem and stop new infections all together. As an HIV vaccine researcher, I feel that our work has real potential to transform the trajectory of HIV, and I get to work with inspiring and committed colleagues and volunteers.

I went to Brown University and Brown Medical School.

Recent HIV vaccine research has focused on "structure-based vaccine design" which uses the crystallographic structure of the HIV-envelope epitope to identify the precise binding site of a broadly neutralizing monoclonal antibody. This publication summarizes what we know about broadly neutralizing antibodies that bind to highly conserved regions of HIV. I do not have the PDB file.