IAVI REPORT – VOL. 16, NO. 4, 2012
The editor is well aware that his letters are mere distractions from the brainy feast offered up in the pages of IAVI Report. Or maybe something like a menu. So, with no further ado, allow me to introduce this last issue of 2012 to you.
Our reporters ambled down a couple of less trodden paths this winter and returned with engaging stories on matters of relevance not only to HIV research, but to vaccines and global health in general. For starters, Regina McEnery reports on the laboratories that product development partnerships have set up over the years to better address the scientific and technical deficiencies of their chosen fields. How have such ventures panned out? Have they been worth the expense? How are they coping with the current climate of relentless fiscal and economic uncertainty? Read on to find out. (Yes, IAVI’s own laboratories are covered in the report. And no, they were given no special treatment, in any sense of the phrase.)
Andreas von Bubnoff, meanwhile, attended a rather specialized conference on particles used to display immunogens, the primary active ingredients of vaccines. Given the impressive track record of particle-based approaches—and the snazzy science behind some of them—we were surprised it took researchers this long to convene a scientific meeting about them. But they finally did, and Andreas took a detour to France to tell us all about it. Enjoy.
For those more inclined to haikus, we have a few quick reads on the refinements in humanized mouse models that are making them more useful to HIV vaccine research. We also have a short report on a fascinating study on Staphylococcus aureus and its interest in a cell-surface receptor favored by HIV, a bit about some changes in leadership in the HIV field, and an article on the somewhat disappointing interim results of the first malaria vaccine candidate to have reached efficacy trials.
As always, we hope you’ll enjoy this issue as much as we enjoyed working on it. Happy New Year!
—Unmesh Kher