CFAR in the News http://cfar.ucsd.edu daily 1 2010-05-11T18:31:09Z Engineering World Health teams up with CFAR investigators http://cfar.ucsd.edu/news-events/cfar-in-the-news/engineering-world-health-teams-up-with-cfar-investigators Engineering students design affordable lab equipment for HIV treatment analysis in resource-limited countries. Members of the UC San Diego chapter of Engineering World Health (EWH at UCSD) are designing a cost-effective, point-of-care solution to screen HIV patients for ART drug resistance. Working with CFAR members Dr. Davey Smith (Director of the CFAR Translational Virology Core),  and Dr. M. Winston Tilghman, members of EWH at UCSD are designing automated devices for use in Mozambique that will perform viral RNA extraction, polymerase chain reaction (PCR) DNA amplification, and gel electrophoresis.

"Our overall goal is to equip technicians at Eduardo Mondlane University Hospital [in Maputo, Mozambique] with the technology they need . . . to monitor patient response to antiretroviral therapy," said Philip Loury, UC San Diego EWH Project Team President. "Our method of HIV treatment surveillance has been shown to not only help improve patient outcomes but also help reduce the incidence of drug-resistant HIV and reduce the overall cost of ART over the long term."

For more information, please visit the EWH at UCSD website. The efforts of EWH at UCSD were also highlighted at the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative University.

]]> No publisher Bryna Block 2013-05-13T22:49:36Z News Item Cognitive decline in HIV+ persons http://cfar.ucsd.edu/news-events/cfar-in-the-news/cognitive-decline-in-hiv-persons Declining cognitive functions studied in HIV+ persons The HIV-positive population is aging, thanks to remarkable advances in antiretroviral therapy. Along with other well-documented changes that tend to visit older persons, such as reductions in bone density, research indicates that HIV-positive persons may experience a decline in cognitive function faster than HIV-negative individuals. Check out this article featuring UC San Diego Associate Professor, CHARTER program co-director, and CFAR member, Dr. Scott Letendre.

]]> No publisher Bryna Block 2013-05-03T18:36:17Z News Item Malignancies SFG http://cfar.ucsd.edu/news-events/cfar-in-the-news/cfar-malignancies-scientific-focus-group Next meeting scheduled May 14, 2013. The CFAR Malignancies Scientific Focus Group (SFG), led by Drs. Douglas Richman, Dennis Carson and Erin Reid, held its first meeting on January 14, 2013. This is the second of six CFAR SFGs to be initiated in 2013, and its focus is on new areas of collaboration between CFAR, Cancer Center, and AMC members in HIV-related malignancy research in both national and international settings.

During the meeting, results of two CFAR-NCI pilot grants were presented, and the following topics were discussed:

  1. Promising and emerging areas of HIV-related malignancies research;
  2. Collaborative opportunities among the wealth of talent across our CFAR members and programs;
  3. Resources (prioritization of developmental grants, Core services, etc.) that would help to move efforts in this area forward;
  4. Recommendations for outside investigators to invite for a day of discussion and a seminar; and
  5. Other initiatives and investments the CFAR could provide to facilitate research initiatives in this area.

The next meeting of this SFG is scheduled on Tuesday, May 14, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in Room 145 of the Telemedicine Building. Please RSVP if you wish to attend. We hope that you will join us!

We hope to have wide participation across all of the CFAR member institutions (UCSD, The Scripps Research Institute, the Salk Institute and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology), as well as investigators from throughout the San Diego HIV research community.

Please contact us if you have suggestions or questions or if we can provide any more information about this exciting new initiative.

]]> No publisher Bryna Block 2013-04-14T18:00:00Z News Item Treatment and Eradication SFG http://cfar.ucsd.edu/news-events/cfar-in-the-news/Tx-and-Erad-SFG Next meeting scheduled May 21, 2013. The Treatment and Eradication Scientific Focus Group (SFG)  is one of six such groups to be initiated within our CFAR in 2013. This group will focus on the well-established strengths at the UC San Diego CFAR in developing drugs and treatment strategies, while incorporating innovative virological and other translational studies, with an emphasis on eradication and cure. The group is led by Drs. Constance Benson and Douglas Richman.

The next meeting of this SFG is scheduled on Tuesday, May 21, from Noon to 2:00 p.m. in Room 141 of the Telemedicine Building. Please RSVP if you wish to attend.

We hope to have wide participation across all of the CFAR member institutions (UCSD, The Scripps Research Institute, the Salk Institute and La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology).

At each SFG meeting, two or three investigators will discuss recent data and ongoing projects. Participant feedback will be invited on the following items for future discussion:

  1. Promising and emerging areas of immunity research;
  2. Collaborative opportunities among the wealth of talent across our CFAR members and programs;
  3. Resources (prioritization of developmental grants, Core services, etc.) that can help to move efforts forward in this area;
  4. Recommendations on outside investigators to invite for a day of discussion and a seminar; and
  5. Other initiatives and investments the CFAR can provide to facilitate research initiatives in this area.

We hope that you will join us! Please contact us if you have  suggestions or questions, or if we can provide additional information about this exciting new initiative.

]]> No publisher Bryna Block 2013-03-15T18:30:00Z News Item