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Researcher Profile: Dr. Art Poon
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Understanding the origins of HIV could hold important clues for vaccine discovery by revealing how the virus has subsequently evolved, but with no data available from the onset of the epidemic, conducting that kind of research has been nearly impossible until recently.
Dr. Art Poon, Senior Research Scientist at the British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS (BC-CfE), has conducted several collaborative studies to reconstruct how HIV has adapted in response to the diversity of immune responses in the human population. The human adaptive immune system exerts significant pressure on an HIV infection, forcing the virus to accumulate mutations that allow it to escape the immune system, sometimes at the cost of the virus' ability to replicate. A central hypothesis in the field of HIV vaccine research is that the accumulation of these "escape mutations" is causing HIV epidemics to adapt to different human populations around the world. The significance of this hypothesis is that the risk of becoming infected by a virus that is already adapted to one's immune system may be increasing over time.
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WEBINAR
Bionformatics: Phylogenetics for HIV 101
Wednesday, January 20, 2016 | 1:00 – 2:30 PM EST
Please join us for a webinar entitled "
Bioinformatics: Phylogenetics for HIV 101" presented by Dr. Art Poon, Assistant Professor in the division of AIDS at UBC Department of Medicine and an Associate Research Scientist (bioinformatics) for the BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS's Laboratory Program. This webinar will provide Canadian researchers and members of the Canadian HIV Vaccine Initiative Research and Development Alliance with an introduction to phylogenetics for HIV, understanding of the methods used in sequence alignment, reconstruction, phylogenetic clustering, as well the basic concepts and applications of phylodynamics. The webinar will be of particular interest to HIV researchers and trainees that want to learn more about the evolutionary biology of HIV, or more specifically phylogenetics. All are welcome!
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NEW AND EARLY CAREER INVESTIGATOR WORKSHOP
Career Pathways for Biomedical Scientists
February 4-5, 2016
The Alliance Coordinating Office (ACO) is organizing a New and Early Career Investigator Workshop "Career Pathways for Biomedical Scientists" for individuals with an interest in HIV vaccine research. The workshop will be held on February 4th and 5th at the Courtyard Marriott in Toronto, Ontario. The aim of this workshop is to identify various career pathways and options for new and early career investigators with an interest in HIV vaccine research and development. The workshop will also identify gaps in training to help prepare for non-academic career paths and to provide networking opportunities between new and early career investigators and industry representatives.
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Exploring the Potential Health Impact and Cost-Effectiveness of AIDS Vaccine within a Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Response in Low-and Middle-Income Countries
Harmon TM, Fisher KA, McGlynn MG, Stover J, Warren MJ, Teng Y, Näveke A.
The Investment Framework Enhanced (IFE) proposed in 2013 by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) explored how maximizing existing interventions and adding emerging prevention options, including a vaccine, could further reduce new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). This article describes additional modeling which looks more closely at the potential health impact and cost-effectiveness of AIDS vaccination in LMICs as part of UNAIDS IFE. READ MORE
Differential evolution of a CXCR4-using HIV-1 strain in CCR5wt/wt and CCR5∆32/∆32 hosts revealed by longitudinal deep sequencing and phylogenetic reconstruction.
Le AQ, Taylor J, Dong W, McCloskey R, Woods C, Danroth R, Hayashi K, Milloy MJ, Poon AF, Brumme ZL.
Rare individuals homozygous for a naturally-occurring 32 base pair deletion in the CCR5 gene (CCR5∆32/∆32) are resistant to infection by CCR5-using ("R5") HIV-1 strains but remain susceptible to less common CXCR4-using ("X4") strains. The evolutionary dynamics of X4 infections however, remain incompletely understood. We identified two individuals, one CCR5wt/wt and one CCR5∆32/∆32, within the Vancouver Injection Drug Users Study who were infected with a genetically similar X4 HIV-1 strain. READ MORE
Virologic effects of broadly neutralizing antibody VRC01 administration during chronic HIV-1 infection.
Lynch RM, Boritz E, Coates EE, DeZure A, et al.
Passive immunization with HIV-1-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) is being considered for prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infection. As therapeutic agents, mAbs could be used to suppress active virus replication, maintain suppression induced by antiretroviral therapy (ART), and/or decrease the size of the persistent virus reservoir. We assessed the impact of VRC01, a potent human mAb targeting the HIV-1 CD4 binding site, on ART-treated and untreated HIV-1-infected subjects. Among six ART-treated individuals with undetectable plasma viremia, two infusions of VRC01 did not reduce the peripheral blood cell-associated virus reservoir measured 4 weeks after the second infusion. In contrast, six of eight ART-untreated, viremic subjects infused with a single dose of VRC01 experienced a 1.1 to 1.8 log10 reduction in plasma viremia. READ MORE
HIV immunotherapy comes of age: implications for prevention, treatment and cure.
Routy JP, Mehraj V, Cao W.
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has reshaped the lives of millions of individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Patients initiating ART early in the course of infection benefit from a considerable reduction in the risks of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) and HIV-related inflammatory events. However, the absence of cure and lifelong requirements of treatment highlight the need of a vaccine and an immunotherapeutic strategy. Like for cancer, a paradigm shift has occurred with the contribution of immune activation and microbial translocation priming aberrant systemic immunity in restricting the ability of the host to mount an effective immune response. The approaches of implementing an effective vaccine to prevent infection and inhibition of immune activation with breakage of viral latency followed by vaccination should lead to an HIV-free generation. READ MORE
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Funding Opportunities
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Project Grant live pilots:
2016 1st Live Pilot competition
Registration Deadline: 2016-01-18
Application Deadline: 2016-03-01
The Project Scheme is designed to capture ideas with the greatest potential to advance health-related knowledge, health research, health care, health systems, and/or health outcomes. It supports projects with a specific purpose and a defined endpoint. The best ideas may stem from new, incremental, innovative, and/or high-risk lines of inquiry or knowledge translation approaches.Initiative.
The Project Scheme is expected to:
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Support a diverse portfolio of health-related research and knowledge translation projects at any stage, from discovery to application, including commercialization; |
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Contribute to the creation and use of health-related knowledge;
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Promote relevant collaborations across disciplines, professions, and sectors.
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For more information, visit the CIHR website.
View all current opportunities
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Conferences
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February 22 to 25 2016
Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) 2016
Boston, USA
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March 20 to 24, 2016
Keystone Symposia – HIV Persistence: Pathogenesis and Eradication (X7)
California, USA
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March 20 to 24, 2016
Keystone Symposia – HIV Vaccines (X8)
California, USA
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May 3 to 6, 2016
10th International Workshop on HIV Treatment, Pathogenesis and Prevention Research in Resource-Limited Settings (INTEREST Workshop 2016)
Cameroon, Africa
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May 12 to 15 2016
CAHR 2016
Winnipeg, Canada
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July 18 to 22, 2016
AIDS 2016
Durban, South Africa
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July 25 to 26, 2016
ICHA 2016: International HIV and AIDS Conference
London, United Kingdom
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October 17-20, 2016
HIV Research for Prevention
Chicago, USA
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Annual Update
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The Annual Report offers highlights of ACO activities over the past fiscal year. Read our 2014-2015 Annual Update.
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White Paper
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The ACO has developed a White Paper to foster effective coordination of key players across the Canadian HIV vaccine research landscape.
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About Us
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The ACO was established by the Government of Canada and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in November 2011 at the International Centre for Infectious Diseases (ICID), a
not-for-profit,
non-governmental organization based in Winnipeg.
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Address
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ACO at
International Centre for Infectious Diseases
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Winnipeg, MB, Canada
R3B 2E9
Tel.: 204 946 0908
Fax: 204 946 0927
email:
aco@icid.com
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