ResearchResearch within the CHACR focuses on events that influence HIV infection and lead to the progression of AIDS, with the goal of discovering ways to prevent progression and to help people stay healthy. Basic research projects include identification of viral cellular mechanisms that regulate key steps of the HIV life cycle to discover new therapeutic targets. An understanding of how HIV interferes with the host immune response, particularly innate immunity, to allow AIDS-associated infections of different tissues, including muscle, lung and brain, is a major goal of CHACR investigators. Seminars and research-in-progress discussion groups sponsored by the CHACR bring together faculty and promote collaborations across sections, departments and schools with a broad range of research interests, assuring a multidisciplinary approach to basic, translational and clinical research related to HIV and AIDS. Clinical research is an important aspect of caring for HIV patients. While there are more treatment options than ever before, the need for new and improved medications and treatment options remain critical. The best ways to combine and use these therapies is an important area of study. The CHACR clinical research staff is dedicated to providing the latest treatments to patients with HIV infection. The majority of clinical studies conducted in the CHACR are national or international multi-centered trials. Many of the trials involve investigational drugs that allow patients access to novel therapies not generally available to the public. Patients also feel personal satisfaction by contributing to increased knowledge about how best to treat HIV infection. In addition to participating in studies involving investigational drugs, the CHACR is a clinical research site of the Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Group (AACTG). The AACTG is the largest HIV clinical trials organization, both nationally and internationally. It plays a major role in setting standards of care for HIV infection and opportunistic diseases related to HIV/AIDS in the United States and abroad. The AACTG is composed of, and directed by, leading clinician-scientists in HIV/AIDS therapeutics research. The AACTG is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). |
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Principal Investigators & Collaborators |
Research Interests |
| Paul R. Skolnik, MD Professor of Medicine Director, Center for HIV/AIDS Care and Research Section of Infectious Diseases |
Innate immunity in the lung; modeling of cytokine and chemokine networks in the lung; investigational HIV drug trials; patient-oriented HIV immunopathogenesis studies |
| Ioana Bica, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine Section of Infectious Diseases |
HIV-HCV co-infection |
| Jon D. Fuller, MD Associate Professor of Medicine Section of Infectious Diseases |
HIV therapeutics; ethics of HIV prevention; delivery of international care |
| Davidson H. Hamer, MD Associate Professor of International Health Boston University School of Public Health Associate Professor of Medicine Section of Infectious Diseases |
HIV therapeutics |
| Hélène Hardy, PharmD Adjunct Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Clinical and Research Pharmacist Section of Infectious Diseases |
Adherence; HIV therapeutics |
| Andrew J. Henderson, PhD Associate Professor of Medicine Section of Infectious Diseases Associate Professor of Microbiology Department of Microbiology |
Cellular signals that regulate HIV transcription and regulation |
| Michael H. Ieong, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine Director, Pulmonary Function Laboratory Section of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine |
HIV pathogenesis in the lung; redox cell signaling pathways; alveolar macrophage biology; innate immunity of the lung |
| Monty A. Montano, PhD Assistant Professor of Medicine Section of Infectious Diseases |
Immuno-genomics of HIV infection and pathogenesis; muscle stem cell biology and wasting; aging |
| Stephen I. Pelton, MD Professor of Pediatrics Department of Pediatric Infectious Diseases |
HIV; Hepatitis C virus and disease; Pneumococcal vaccines and diseases; immune function |
| Margaret M. Sullivan, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine Section of Infectious Diseases |
Mother-to-child transmission of HIV; assisted reproduction for serodiscordant couples |
| Thomas E. Van Dyke, DMD Professor of Oral Biology and Periodontology Director, Clinical Research Center Boston University Goldman School of Dental Medicine |
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| Catherine Yu, MD Assistant Professor of Medicine |
HIV in the elderly |
