Research Funding at IHV

Much of the Institute's scientific work is funded through research grants and other sponsored programs.

Over the last year, almost $22 million in public and private funding and an additional $29.8 million in multi-year commitments have fueled meaningful scientific contributions at the IHV.

With funding from the World AIDS Foundation, United States Department of Defense and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, our epidemiologists are conducting high-impact investigations among Nigerian subpopulations. The epidemiologic data, when combined with the Institute's characterization of HIV types and subtypes in the same populations, will provide valuable information about transmission patterns. Together the APIN and Geo-Centers data will provide a larger picture of the problems facing Nigeria and may suggest potential intervention points beyond the public health education already conducted in Nigeria by the IHV. This multi-faceted $1.4 million approach promises to further contribute to the international AIDS prevention initiatives coordinated through the Harvard University School of Public Health and the Department of Defense.

IHV vaccinologists and immunologists are pursuing a fast-paced race to develop and produce innovative vaccine candidates. This effort is fueled by $3.8 million in support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, and the Waterford Foundation. Additionally, an ambitious NIH-funded project is now underway determining the effectiveness of a promising microbicide in preventing sexual transmission of HIV.

The Vaccine Trials Network of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases sponsors the Institute's network of research sites in Trinidad, Tobago, Virginia and Baltimore, testing the effectiveness of trial vaccines. This $5 million effort ties IHV's vaccine testing strategies to a federally administered network of international sites.

Education and training of health care professionals and researchers in these network countries is critical to the success of the five-year multinational initiative training and educational outreach effort in Brazil, Nigeria, and the Caribbean. An estimated $4.7 million in funding provides training to dozens of scientists and paraprofessionals each year through the AITRP program.

Advances in clinical care and treatment of the AIDS virus has been made possible through IHV's basic scientific discoveries. Grants from the National Institutes of Health have supported $15.9 million in long-term research regarding specific aspects of the HIV's mechanism of action, and several potential roadblocks to disease transmission including innate immunity, T-cell action, protective responses, chemokines, and the synthesis of a newly discovered anti-HIV protein.

An additional $1.5 million in funding this year from the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, and the Environmental Protection Agency have enabled IHV scientists to advance knowledge regarding a number of other threatening viruses, including Hepatitis C, Pfiesteria, and arenaviruses.

The Institute's clinical sites throughout Baltimore contribute to transportation, subspeciality care, and psychosocial support of persons with AIDS with $3.8 million in annual grant support from the Department of Health and Human Services through the well-known Federal Ryan White Act. Institute physicians and psychologists collaborate with the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Baltimore City and Prince George's Department of Health, and Associated Black Charities in the provision of these services. The Campaign for Human Forgiveness also provides multi-year funding for the psychosocial support effort.

Clinical trials are the gold standard determining the efficacy and safety of any pharmaceutical treatment. IHV's clinical research scientists are conducting more than 22 such trials with the $2.5 million in sponsorship from 14 corporations.