25 Jul 2016
Lewin/Cameron Group part of multimillion dollar, international HIV cure research grant
The push to find a cure for HIV has received a significant boost with the National Institutes of Health, USA investing a total of $150 million as part of the Martin Delaney Collaboratory: Towards an HIV-1 Cure program.
The funding will go to six research teams to lead collaborative investigations worldwide, Professor Sharon Lewin, Director of the Doherty Institute is a co-investigator for DARE, a collaboratory based at University of California, San Francisco.
Professor Lewin, will be one of four leaders of the collaboratory, which builds on funding initially distributed in 2011.
“One of the main advantages of this program is the chance to work with labs around the world, gain access to amazing clinical samples and opportunities to participate in clinical trials for people living with HIV in Australia,” Professor Lewin said.
“When the grants program was first announced five years ago, I said that it would without a doubt accelerate the path to hopefully one day finding a cure for HIV, and I standby that statement.”
Professor Lewin’s will lead the module investigating new cancer drugs that boost the immune system and to determine their effects on HIV persistence
The Martin Delaney Collaboratory: Towards an HIV-1 Cure program supports international HIV cure research networks and encourages collaborative efforts to address the multifaceted puzzle of curing HIV.
While each of the principal investigators’ institutions are located in the United States the collaborative projects will involve laboratories on five continents, including Africa, the first time it’s been part of an international HIV cure research program.
The program was set up in honour of the late Martin Delaney, a HIV and AIDS activist who was a passionate advocate for cure research.