Peter Wall Institute announces Major Thematic Grant Award

A Major Thematic Grant has been awarded by the Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies at UBC that will fund research over three years to identify the immunological explanation for the impaired defense against infection of HIV-Exposed but Uninfected (HEU) babies.   The principal investigator is David Speert, division head and professor of UBC Faculty of Medicine Pediatrics. 

To achieve this goal, a team of researchers from UBC, and the Health Sciences Faculty and Tygerberg Hospital, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, will study 100 HIV-exposed babies and 100 babies born to women who are not HIV infected, all born at Tygerberg Hospital. 

The Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS) associated with this project, is an international partner of the Peter Wall Institute. 

The Wall Major Thematic Grant program provides funding of up to $500,000 over a three-to five-year period to interdisciplinary teams of UBC and external scholars to research a new area. It is expected that UBC will become a centre for research on the topic. 

For more information, visit http://www.pwias.ubc.ca