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| Photo: Immunity Project |
Research is being conducted by many organizations to develop
an HIV vaccine. Immunity Project, a nonprofit based out of California is
rallying support and building funding through the public.
The Immunity Project is attempting to hack into the AIDS
virus life cycle and produce an inhaled vaccine. A finite group of people carry
HIV, but don’t contract AIDS and the vaccine would build off this unique
circumstance to offer protection. Researchers are using computers to develop
the vaccine and hope to test it in humans in 2014.
Teams at the University of California, San Francisco and the
Oregon Health & Science University, as well as others, are also working on
HIV vaccines. Most scientists have focused on antibodies, while the Immunity Project
arms T cells so they can fend off an HIV attack.
Immunity Project would like to offer their vaccine for free
if the clinical trials in the United States and South Africa (2015) go well.
They are using a $25 million crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for research
and future distribution. The vaccine will be an inhaled nasal vaccine, making
it effective in AIDS hotspots like sub-Saharan Africa where doctors, nurses,
sterile needles and refrigerators are limited.
