From clinic to mouse to clinic: New HIV gene therapy shows promise!

Yesterday a team of University of Pennsylvania researchers – led by Dr Pablo Tebas, Professor Carl June, and Dr Bruce Levine – announced the successful conclusion of a clinical trial to evaluate the safety of a new gene therapy technique for treating HIV. It is a result that may eventually allow millions of HIV positive … Continue reading From clinic to mouse to clinic: New HIV gene therapy shows promise!

Mice and macaques pave the way for effective HIV vaccines

There is encouraging news this week on the prospects for an effective vaccine against HIV. A  research team led by Professor Mariano Esteban at the Spanish Superior Scientific Research Council (CSIC) have announced that the vaccine MVA-B elicited a persistent immune response against HIV in  85% of volunteers in a phase 1 clinical trial. MVA-B … Continue reading Mice and macaques pave the way for effective HIV vaccines

A breakthrough against Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia…thank the mice!

A challenge that science communicators frequently face when discussing the process whereby a scientific discovery eventually leads to a medical breakthrough is the time that this often takes, indeed by the time that the reports of exciting clinical trial outcomes start to appear in the press the role of the scientists who made the initial … Continue reading A breakthrough against Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia…thank the mice!