AIDS Research Center Opens in San Francisco
Scientists in San Francisco are stepping up the fight against AIDS with a new center dedicated to finding a cure for the disease.
The Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology, which officially opens today, is a 4-year, $44-million project bringing together 45 scientists devoted to finding a cure for AIDS. Scientists will work with UC San Francisco’s existing AIDS program.
Five research teams will take on different aspects of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, including how it enters human cells, what triggers reproduction and why it produces such a devastating disease.
“HIV disease has been a big black box. We know the input, and we know what comes out, but we don’t know what’s going on--biologically--in the middle,” said David Feinberg, 37, who runs a lab at Gladstone.
The new center is second in terms of the scope of funding only to the National Institutes of Health. It will operate from the sixth floor of San Francisco General Hospital.
