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Ground Breaking HIV Findings
The RPH HIV research team has been recognised for its world-leading work, by being awarded grants worth over $15 million this year. The Centre for Clinical Immunology and Biomedical Statistics (CCIBS) at RPH was the only WA winner at last month's National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) funding round. The researchers received a $5.6 million grant, which followed a grant of $9.8 million from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation earlier this year. "This is a very significant amount of money and shows that this research is really respected around the world," RPH Acting Executive Director Dr Phillip Montgomery said. "Perth may be the world's most isolated capital city, but it is still leading the world in research." Recent research conducted by RPH and Murdoch University has discovered that the AIDS virus manifests itself differently in different populations. HIV researchers hope that these findings will enable them to develop a vaccine - or vaccines - to best cover the diversity of populations throughout the world. Director of the CCIBS Professor Simon Mallal said researchers involved in the HIV study comprised clinicians, medical and computer scientists and mathematicians. "Our focus is to improve treatment and vaccines for HIV and other viruses such as Hepatitis C," Prof Mallal said. Additional research will investigate why some drugs used to treat HIV cause life threatening allergic reactions. This involves the role of drugs in one of the more serious complications of HIV, which is loss of fat tissue from the body. HIV researchers also aimed to prevent the long-term side effects of current HIV drugs. "It is important to continually provide knowledge and tools so doctors can care for people with HIV and hepatitis C in a safer and more effective way," said Prof Mallal. September, 2005 |
