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CENTER NEWS - THURS., APRIL 6, 2000

NEWS & FEATURES

Five-year award to study HIV resistance mechanisms goes to Julie McElrath from Burroughs Wellcome Fund

By Barbara Berg

A $750,000 grant from the Burroughs Wellcome Fund awarded to Dr. Julie McElrath will support five years of investigation into understanding mechanisms of resistance to infection by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the causative agent of AIDS.      McElrath, of the Clinical Research Division, received one of 10 Clinical Scientist Awards in Translational Research given to physician-scientists around the country. The awards are described by the fund as designed to support "the two-way transfer between work at the laboratory bench and treatment of patients."      The grant enables physician-scientists to shift some of their time from clinical duties by providing the financial support to spend more time spent on laboratory research projects.

'It allows me to take some risks in our research that are harder tofund by other sources.' Dr. Julie McElrath

     In addition to "giving my colleagues some buffer to allow them to spend time in the lab," says McElrath, "it allows me to take some risks in our research that are harder to fund by other sources."
     Why some individuals repeatedly exposed to HIV remain free of disease is a mystery whose solution may help scientists develop prevention strategies and improved treatment for HIV.
     McElrath points out that there are "probably multiple reasons why some people exposed to the virus remain uninfected, and all the reasons are worth understanding."
     A research area of particular interest that will be supported by the Burroughs Wellcome grant is to investigate whether certain individuals develop a compartmentalized immune response. In resistant individuals, HIV may elicit a localized immune response in the mucosal cells that line bodily passages that have first contact with the virus.
     "This area is worth pursuing not only for HIV but for other sexually transmitted diseases," says McElrath.
     Taking lab research to where it translates to treatment of patients takes a considerable time investment, says McElrath, who is excited about being able to "take good people into the lab and sustain them for a significant amount of time."