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January 5, 2016
MHRP Scientist Discusses WHO Ebola Collaboration
As an Ebola outbreak surged across West Africa in 2014, MHRP research physician, Dr. Kayvon Modjarrad, sought a way to aid response efforts. His opportunity to fight the epidemic came via Geneva, Switzerland, where he was requested by name to help the World Health Organization oversee Phase I trials for an Ebola vaccine candidate.
While in Geneva, Dr. Modjarrad was charged with guiding...
November 30, 2015
Prospects for a Globally Effective HIV-1 Vaccine
A commentary in the December issues of American Journal of Preventive Medicine and Vaccine make the case for the development of a globally cost-effective HIV-1 vaccine that would protect against the many HIV-1 strains and varied routes of transmission.
The authors, including MHRP deputy director Dr. Merlin Robb, reviewed different HIV-1 vaccine approaches currently being pursued and the...
November 30, 2015
World AIDS Day 2015: The Time to Act is Now
The U.S. Military HIV Research Program (MHRP)/Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) seeks to protect U.S. troops and reduce the global impact of HIV through a combined focus on developing a globally effective HIV vaccine and finding a cure.
The landmark RV144 Thai vaccine study, the only vaccine clinical trial to show a modest ability to protect against HIV infection,...
October 21, 2015
New Study Highlights Need for Hepatitis C Screening for U.S. Military Applicants
A new study shows that two-level screening of military applicants for hepatitis C (HCV)—via antibody screening and a confirmatory nucleic acid test—could not only reduce enlistment of infected individuals and increase battlefield blood safety, but also save the DoD an estimated $3.1 million annually. The study was published online today in the journal Hepatology.
Battlefield whole blood...
September 24, 2015
Future of HIV Cure Research Points to Combination Approach
The next five years of HIV research should shift gears from the classic single-therapy development model to moving directly from in vitro studies to combination therapy trials, authors argue in a new paper published online today.
The opinion piece—co-authored Dr. Francoise Barré-Sinoussi of the Institut Pasteur who, together with Dr. Luc Montagnier, was awarded the Nobel Prize for...
September 4, 2015
New findings provide insight into HIV epidemic in the U.S. Army
Results of a recently initiated comprehensive HIV characterization program helps paint a detailed portrait of the HIV epidemic within the U.S. Army. The results of the study, based on data collected since the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) in 2011, were published in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome. The analysis was conducted by the U.S. Military HIV Research Program...
August 31, 2015
Infection with multiple HIV-1 variants leads to poorer clinical outcomes
HIV-1 infection with multiple founder variants points to poorer clinical outcomes than infection with a single variant, according to a paper published today in the journal Nature Medicine.
In the study researchers analyzed large sample sets from two important HIV vaccine efficacy trials—the Step HIV vaccine clinical trial (HVTN 502) and RV144, the landmark vaccine clinical trial...
August 24, 2015
New Ebola vaccine study begins in Nigeria
The vaccine used in the study (RV429) is the monovalent chimpanzee adenovirus Type 3 (ChAd3) candidate developed at the NIAID and being developed by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the study sponsor. First vaccinations began on 21 August.
Since 2005, MHRP’s program in Nigeria—called the Walter Reed Program-Nigeria—has been working closely with the Nigerian Ministries of Defence and Health to...
August 19, 2015
MHRP study indicates increase in HIV subtypes in Kenya
Recent analysis of data from Kenya shows a rise in both the number and complexity of inter-subtype recombinants of HIV-1, which could pose a significant challenge for vaccine development.
In a new paper published today in PLOS One, researchers led by MHRP analyzed the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 subtypes within a tea plantation community cohort in Kenya.
In June 2003, MHRP...
July 23, 2015
MHRP Welcomes Lydie Trautmann, Chief of Cellular Immunology
Dr. Trautmann joins the program after more than five years with the Vaccine & Gene Therapy Institute of Florida where she collaborated on acute HIV infection research with Dr. Jintanat Ananworanich. She says she was inspired to join MHRP by the chance to work more closely with these unique acute cohorts.
“Human immunology is hard. You need to work with strong cohorts in order to...