The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center will host
a scientific meeting, “HIV Cure Research in Seattle – the Underlying Science and
Clinical Studies” to discuss the underlying science and clinical studies behind
HIV cure research in Seattle. The meeting, presented in partnership with the
defeatHIV Martin Delaney Collaboratory, will take place Tuesday, June 18, 11
a.m.-4 p.m. A live online stream of the event will be
available to the public.
The day will consist of lectures by Fred Hutch and
defeatHIV scientists and industry partners working on an HIV cure therapy that
closely mirrors the successful treatment of the "Berlin Patient" Timothy Ray Brown. German doctors cured
Brown of both HIV and leukemia with bone marrow transplants from a donor who
carried a rare gene that protects cells from the virus.
Now, Fred Hutch scientists are working to take one
person's cure and bring it from
one to many. Drs. Keith Jerome, of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease
Division, and Hans-Peter Kiem, of the Clinical Research Division, are leading
defeatHIV efforts in developing genetic tools to provide HIV patients with the
same resistance to protect him or her from the virus. If successful, these
genetic tools may also permanently shut down the virus already in the
body—offering a prospective cure for HIV infection.