Vaccine Development

With AIDS now officially recognized as the worst epidemic and the deadliest disease in medical history, the quest is on to find an effective and affordable vaccine that can help put an end to this raging epidemic. At the Institute of Human Virology, the Division of Basic Science and Vaccine Research has positioned itself as one of the world's premiere research and development operations.

"The creation of effective HIV/AIDS vaccines is the scientific community's greatest hope in putting an end to this deadly disease," says George Lewis, co-director of IHV’s Division of Basic Science and Vaccine Research. "Though significant therapeutic advances have been achieved in the treatment of AIDS over the last 20 years, prevention always is the ultimate goal."

Lewis' team is recognized internationally for its innovative approaches to vaccine development.

IHV scientists have identified new anti-HIV suppressive factors and have pioneered a novel oral vaccine delivery system that uses inactivated intracellular bacteria such as Salmonenlla and Shigella to more efficiently deliver DNA vaccines than previously possible. IHV faculty also have engineered an HIV-1 envelope vaccine that generates the broadest HIV-neutralizing antibody responses achieved to date. These technologies offer the potential for a single vaccine that may be effective against a broad range of HIV strains.