#AIDSResearch
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ertrunnell.bsky.social
After all that progress, it’s heartbreaking to see science still stuck in outdated methods.

Experiments on animals continue to dominate #HIVresearch, even though they fail to reflect the complexity of the virus or the human immune system.

#AIDSresearch #EndAIDS #GlobalHealth #PublicHealth
Almost 40 years and still no HIV vaccine. The first clinical trial of a preventive HIV vaccine began in 1987. Since then, between 100 and 250 vaccine candidates have been developed and tested using animals, yet every one has failed in human trials. Progress has been hindered by HIV’s extraordinary ability to evade immune defenses and the complexity of the human immune response to the virus. Compounding these challenges, trial designs—both in animals and humans—have often been inconsistent and poorly documented. Only humans contract HIV and develop AIDS. To sidestep this critical detail, experimenters instead infect monkeys with simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), a virus unique to African primates. However, SIV shares only about 55% genetic homology with HIV and is less genetically diverse. Because of differences in surface proteins and other molecular features, antibodies that neutralize SIV rarely work against HIV, and vice versa. Experimental infections in nonhuman primates typically involve doses of SIV far higher than the amount of HIV-1 a human would encounter during sexual transmission. The promise of an HIV vaccine has killed thousands of macaques. Many of these animals—some endangered—are torn from their natural habitats and subjected to grueling journeys before arriving in U.S. laboratories. Some later prove to be carrying infections such as Valley fever, which can confound HIV experimental results. Others are bred into a life of deprivation in a laboratory, stripped of everything essential to their species. They endure painful procedures and induced illnesses before being killed. This doesn’t even account for the countless other species subjected to similar suffering—animals for whom we have no reliable estimates of their numbers—or the the human lives lost to AIDS while waiting for science that delivers.
December 1, 2025 at 5:18 PM
csbpitt.bsky.social
How does HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS, evolve to outsmart the immune system? A new study by Kai Shimagaki and John Barton uncovers striking parallels in HIV-1 evolution between humans and rhesus macaques.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41212071/

#Biology #AIDSResearch
Parallel HIV-1 fitness landscapes shape viral dynamics in humans and macaques that develop broadly neutralizing antibodies - PubMed
HIV-1 evolves within individual hosts to escape adaptive immune responses while maintaining its capacity for replication. Coevolution between HIV-1 and the immune system generates extraordinary viral genetic diversity. In some individuals, this process also results in the development of broadly neut …
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
November 12, 2025 at 4:56 PM
margaretpinard.bsky.social
Totally last-minute, but I'm participating mainly for solidarity and visibility tomorrow. If you can throw in $20 for #AIDSresearch though, I'd be grateful, since every research institution is feeling the pinch! www.aidswalknorthwest.org/fundraiser/m...
AIDS Walk Northwest 2025
www.aidswalknorthwest.org
September 12, 2025 at 9:49 PM
peppypanda.com
Major breakthrough! A new HIV vaccine showed promising results in monkey trials, offering a beacon of hope in the fight against AIDS. 💉 #HIVVaccine #AIDSResearch #MedicalBreakthrough #Hope
A Broadly Protective HIV Vaccine Shows Promising Results in Monkeys
www.the-scientist.com
August 24, 2025 at 2:00 PM
hanc-legacyproject.bsky.social
What's the link between HIV Research and Heart Health? #hivresearch #AIDSResearch #HIVScience #HeartHealth #HeartDisease
July 28, 2025 at 3:42 PM
citiprogram.org
This month's opportunities include:
•Human Networks and Data Science (HNDS)
•Beckman Young Investigator Program
•Developmental Centers for AIDS Research
See this month's complete list now.
https://post.citiprogram.org/3IwKwSY
#DataScience #LifeScience #AIDSResearch
CITI Program Funding Finds on July 8, 2025
This month, CITI Program is sharing opportunities from the NSF, the NIH, the Beckman Foundation, and more.
post.citiprogram.org
July 8, 2025 at 2:30 PM
equanimity1961.bsky.social
Promising news. It is a good thing some countries are continuing to do science. Meanwhile dumbarse America just keeps plunging into the modern dark ages. #aidsresearch #hiv #searchforacure #science
Breakthrough in search for HIV cure leaves researchers ‘overwhelmed’
Exclusive: Melbourne team demonstrates way to make the virus visible within white blood cells, paving the way to fully clear it from the body
www.theguardian.com
June 5, 2025 at 7:17 AM
enrich12.bsky.social
Every day, a new assault on our sensibilities.
At least we're going through it together. #RESIST #Blue

#ICE #deportations #HeadStart #BookBans #cruelty
#AidsResearch #ElSalvadorGulags #FascismKnocking #Trump
April 19, 2025 at 11:20 AM
dianainchicago.bsky.social
He’s a ghoul. #AIDsResearch #OID I’m telling you all, their plan IS to thin the herd. Think about everything he’s aiming for. What other reasoning for cutting an Entire staff?? Who work on infectious diseases of all things?! Ghoulish horrid loon.
jonathanstea.bsky.social Dr. Jonathan N. Stea @jonathanstea.bsky.social · Mar 29
One consequence of tolerating pseudoscience is that people die when its legitimatization becomes baked into our culture, health care systems, and institutions.
March 29, 2025 at 8:55 PM
creeashannon.bsky.social
Going anti-Viral at #CROI2025 #retroviruses #HIVresearch #infectiousdiseases #science #phd #phdresearch #scientist #Al #informatics #stem #Healthcare #HIV #AIDSresearch #publichealth #AIDS #SanFrancisco #clinicaltrials #researchers #CROI
Hello San Francisco! #CROI2025 swag bag
March 11, 2025 at 5:44 AM
daddybluesfw.bsky.social
a perfect #example of #felon47 demonstrating #active #homophobia #transphobia #AIDSresearch #fucktrump #donthecon #donthefelontrump #moron #diaperdon
tribelaw.bsky.social Laurence H. Tribe @tribelaw.bsky.social · Mar 9
“What’s transpired over the last three or four days just takes it to a whole new level of cruelty and inhumanity and, frankly, a whole new level of stupidity in doing this is the most non-strategic way.” Tens of thousands of people will die as a result of this action.

www.salon.com/2025/02/28/a...
"A whole new level of cruelty": Health experts decry "devastating" cuts to HIV treatment programs
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation said the latest cuts will deprive 350,000 people of HIV treatment.
www.salon.com
March 10, 2025 at 5:53 AM
nursesontheinside2.bsky.social
Valery Hughes, CO-author of books Nurses on the Inside: Stories of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in NYC, and Beyond the Mask
#nursepractitioner #AIDSresearch #advocate #endstigma #endhomophobia #Nursesontheinside
December 12, 2024 at 11:35 AM