NEW YORK – Leopold Kong, Ph.D. of the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla has been awarded one of four grants by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research. The grant of $125,000 is part of the sixth round of Mathilde Krim Fellowships in Basic Biomedical Research, designed to support the work of young HIV/AIDS researchers.
Dr. Kong will use his amfAR funding to approach HIV vaccine research in an entirely new way. He is attempting to develop a vaccine on the basis of the protective coating of sugar-like molecules that surround the virus. This coating is traditionally thought to hamper the development of antibodies that might form the basis of a vaccine. Dr. Kong will determine whether this protective coat can instead be turned against the virus to render it vulnerable to destruction by the body’s immune system. His research will determine whether antibodies generated against these sugars might form the basis of a vaccine that could prevent infection.
Other new Krim Fellows, who each receive $125,000, are Christine Durand, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Lucie Etienne, Ph.D., of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle and Alon Herschhorn, Ph.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
“The research being done by these new Krim Fellows is exciting, innovative, and potentially groundbreaking,” said amfAR Vice President and Director of Research Dr. Rowena Johnston. “Each of the Krim Fellows is doing work that could produce major contributions in four separate areas of HIV/AIDS research: cure research, epidemiological research, vaccine development, and treatment development. Each is at the forefront of the current demands for addressing the pandemic.”
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is one of the world’s leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to the support of AIDS research, HIV prevention, treatment education and the advocacy of sound AIDS-related public policy.
Since 2008, amfAR has awarded more than $3 million through the program, named in honor of amfAR’s founding chairman, Dr. Mathilde Krim.
so they are just awarded.
people are dying everyday. make the vaccine & sell it to every country.
cure millions of people then give them trillions of dollar. until then stop all this bullshit. we are dealing with this everyday. we are a criminal now. falling in love is a crime now. so make the vaccine & take as much money as you want from the government.