UAB Center for AIDS Research Committed to Stopping HIV by 2030

According to an article for UAB News, 40% of individuals infected with HIV are not currently receiving antiretroviral therapy, which means their disease is not suppressed. The University of Alabama, Birmingham’s Center for AIDS Research recently partnered with state and local agencies in signing the Paris Declaration to eliminate the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2030. Birmingham is the 13^th U.S. city to commit to achieving the Declaration’s goals.

(Image courtesy of Wikimedia commons)

The Paris Declaration’s 2020 Goals Include:

• 90 percent of people living with HIV will know their HIV status
• 90 percent of those who know their status will be engaged in care and on antiretroviral therapy (ART)
• 90 percent of those on ART achieving full viral suppression

“If we can achieve the 90-90-90 plan by 2020, along with zero stigma and discrimination against those living with HIV/AIDS, we will be on our way to ending the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2030,” said Michael Mugavero, M.D. in the same article. Dr. Mugavero is a professor in the UAB Division of Infectious Diseases and co-director for the UAB Center for AIDS Research (CFAR).  

The UAB CFAR is one of the seven inaugural Centers for AIDS Research established in 1988 by the National Institutes of Health. As a chartered university-wide research center, UAB CFAR stimulates interdisciplinary, translational AIDS research that bridges basic, clinical and behavioral sciences.The mission of UAB CFAR is to:

Support local/UAB investigators in the conduct of multidisciplinary, cutting-edge research in the prevention, pathogenesis, therapeutics, clinical care, and psychosocial manifestations of HIV and related disorders in the community, both in the United States and around the world.

For nearly 30 years the Center has continued to grow. UAB AIDS-related funding increased from $6 million in 1988 to $86 million ($70 million NIH awards) by 2012.  It provided infrastructure, designated research space, 7 research core facilities with specialized equipment and trained personnel, and access to developmental research funds to its over 200 members and the UAB research community. In June of 2017 UAB’s Center for AIDS received a $3.6 million research center grant from the NIH to continue the Center’s ground breaking work.

UAB CFAR researchers were among the first to:

• Describe the viral pathogenesis of the acute HIV-1 viral syndrome
  
• Quantify plasma HIV-1 RNA as a prognostic marker and clinical disease indicator
  
• Introduce and test 7 of the 25 currently approved anti-HIV drugs in first-in-human clinical trials
  
• Establish proof of concept for a fusion inhibitor treatment of HIV
  
• Proved that single genome amplification-derived Transmission-Founder viral genomes sequences from acute infection are consistently replication competent 
• Established drugs with primary and secondary cell-differentiating capacity are potent HIV-1 reactivating agents and should be explored in HIV-1 Cure Research 

UAB Researchers meet with Laboratory Equipment Suppliers at Bioresearch Product Faire:

Lab suppliers wishing to meet with the researchers at UAB should plan on attending the 18th annual BioResearch Product Faire™  Event on Thursday, September 21, 2017.  Last year, this event attracted 176 attendees. Of these attendees, 47 were purchasing agents, professors and post docs, and 40 were lab managers.           

To find out how this biotech trade show can help increase your laboratory product sales call (530) 272-6675 or click the link below.

Science professionals attend for free.  For more information and to save time in line click the link below.