SANTHE's Prof Thumbi Ndung'u wins $2.8 million Gilead grant

Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Thumbi Ndung'u, SANTHE Programme Director, has been awarded a $2,842,000 USD grant by Gilead Sciences for a project entitled “The FRESH study: Females Rising through Education, Support and Health (FRESH) Acute HIV Infection Cohort”.

This is a cut of the $22 million in 12 grants awarded by Gilead in January 2017, in support of HIV cure research. The affiliated projects will be conducted by leading academic institutions, non-profit organisations and community groups worldwide. 

They will focus on three key areas of research namely translational research, efficacy studies in animal models, and community perspectives of HIV cure.

Ndung’u said he was very excited about the grant because the project it supports also falls in line with SANTHE’s objectives, “The study will generate knowledge that will inform vaccine development and HIV cure strategies and as such, will help to advance African science and fight HIV/AIDS.”

“We will continue a programme that has been in existence for 3 years, identifying women with acute HIV infection, as early as possible following infection and following development of detectable viral load. Study participants are then started on antiretroviral therapy immediately. We want to measure the viral reservoir to see where the virus hides and understand why it is so difficult to cure HIV infection and examine whether early treatment can reduce the reservoir to an extent where it becomes easier to eradicate the virus completely.”Read more ...