amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, has awarded more than half a million dollars in funding across four research projects pursuing inventive approaches to the treatment and cure of HIV.
“These grants and fellowships reflect the vibrancy of HIV research and the wide range of innovative strategies being pursued to end the epidemic,” amfAR’s Chief Executive Officer Kevin Robert Frost said. “We’re thrilled to support such a diverse and extremely talented group of researchers who reflect our unswerving commitment to curing HIV and making AIDS history.”
Anjie Zhen, Ph.D., of the University of California, Los Angeles, will focus on CAR-T cell therapy to eliminate HIV in a patient’s body. Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells have proven highly effective in the treatment of a variety of cancers. These T cells are genetically altered to seek out and destroy pathogens such as cancer or HIV. They have been less successful in the treatment of HIV in large part because over time they become exhausted and ineffective.
In a previous study, Dr. Zhen found that autophagy–the natural process through which the body cleans debris out of cells–can both enhance the ability of CAR-T cells to fight HIV and reduce the toxicity of latency-reversing agents (LRAs) used to force HIV out of hiding. With a $100,000 grant provided by amfAR, Dr. Zhen and her team plan to identify the most effective autophagy-inducing drugs and use them in combination with CAR-T cells and an LRA in an effort to eliminate HIV infection.
In addition, three Mathilde Krim Fellowships in Biomedical Research will help boost the careers of talented young scientists. amfAR’s Krim Fellowships are named for the organization’s Founding Chairman and provide two years of support to postdoctoral researchers pursuing HIV/AIDS research.
The fellowships will support Sebastian Fuchs, Ph.D., of the University of Miami in Florida; Leila Giron, Ph.D., of The Wistar Institute in Philadelphia; and Jeannette Tenthorey, Ph.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. Each grantee receives $150,000 over two years.
