Conspiracy theories surrounding the global HIV/AIDS epidemic have cost thousands of lives. But science is fighting back.

By Nicoli Nattrass | 

Columbia University Press, March 2012

There is a substantial body of evidence showing that HIV causes AIDS—and that antiretroviral treatment (ART) has turned the viral infection from a death sentence into a chronic disease.¹ Yet a small group of AIDS denialists keeps alive the conspiratorial argument that ART is harmful and that HIV science has been corrupted by commercial interests. Unfortunately, AIDS denialists have had a disproportionate effect on efforts to stem the AIDS epidemic. In 2000, South African President Thabo Mbeki took these claims seriously, opting to debate the issue, thus delaying the introduction of ART into the South African public health sector. At least 330,000 South Africans died unnecessarily as a result.^2,3
The “hero scientist” of AIDS denialism, University of California, Berkeley, virologist Peter Duesberg, argues that HIV is a harmless passenger virus and that ART is toxic, even a cause of AIDS. He has done no clinical research on HIV and ignores the many rebuttals of his claims in the scientific literature.^4,5 As I describe in my new book, The AIDS Conspiracy: Science Fights Back, this has prompted further direct action against Duesberg by the pro-science community.
In 1993, John Maddox, then editor of Nature, complained that Duesberg was “wrongly using tendentious arguments to confuse understanding of AIDS,” and that because he was not engaging as a scientist, he would no longer be granted an automatic “right of reply.” More recently, in 2009, AIDS activists and HIV scientists, including Nobel Laureate Françoise Barré-Sinoussi, complained to Elsevier, the publisher of Medical Hypotheses, when that journal published a paper by Duesberg defending Mbeki and denying the existence of the African AIDS epidemic. Medical Hypotheses had a policy against peer review, so Elsevier asked the Lancet to oversee a peer review of the paper. When the panel of reviewers unanimously recommended rejection, Elsevier permanently withdrew it and forced Medical Hypotheses to introduce peer review. Last December Duesberg published a reworked version in an Italian journal,⁶ sparking further controversy and protests from the journal’s editorial board, one of whom has already resigned.
Efforts by scientists to defend science are supplemented by pro-science activists operating on the Internet. Physician, author, and blogger Ben Goldacre argued in his Guardian column Bad Science that a “ragged band of bloggers from all walks of life” has been very successful at exposing pseudoscientific claims and fraudulent alternative practitioners selling quack cures. The Internet now poses a double-edged sword for AIDS denialists. It is becoming a tougher place for people to sequester themselves in a comfortable cocoon of the like-minded. While the web allows denialists to advertise their ideas and build networks, it also exposes potential converts to scientific rebuttals of their claims, as well news about the deaths of the “living icons”—high-profile HIV-positive people who rejected ART.
The key living icon for AIDS denialism was Christine Maggiore. She founded Alive & Well AIDS Alternatives (an organization with Duesberg on its board), campaigned against the use of ART to prevent mothers passing HIV to their babies, and met President Mbeki. Despite her 3-year-old daughter’s succumbing to AIDS, Maggiore remained staunchly opposed to HIV science and ART. She opted for alternative therapies and died at the age of 52, from AIDS-related infections.
Scientists often have a tough time responding to antiscience conspiracy theories because their integrity is impugned by the conspiratorial moves made against them. But precisely because living icons like Maggiore lent credence to AIDS denialism by appearing to offer “living proof” that the science of HIV pathogenesis and treatment is wrong, pro-science activists maintain a list of denialists who have died of AIDS. The weapons of science and reason are still very much in contention, but the gloves have come off in a broader struggle over credibility.

Nicoli Nattrass is director of the AIDS and Society Research Unit at the University of Cape Town and visiting professor at Yale University. Her research on the economics and politics of antiretroviral treatment helped change South African AIDS policy. Read an excerpt of The AIDS Conspiracy.

References

1. PA Volberding and SG Deeks, “Antiretroviral therapy and management of HIV infection,” Lancet, 376: 49-62, 2010
2. P Chigwedere, et. al., “Estimating the lost benefits of antiretroviral drug use in South Africa,” JAIDS, 49:410-15, 2008
3. N Nattrass, “AIDS and the scientific governance of medicine in post-apartheid South Africa,” Afr Affairs, 427:157-76, 2008
4. P Chigwedere and M. Essex, “AIDS denialism and public health practice,” AIDS Behav, 14:237-47, 2010
5. N Nattrass, “Defending the boundaries of science: AIDS denialism, peer review and the Medical Hypotheses saga,” Soc Health Ill, 33:507-21, 2011
6. PH. Duesberg, et. al., “AIDS since 1984: No evidence for a new, viral epidemic–not even in Africa,” Ital J Anat Embryol, 116:73–92, 2011

Source: TheScientist
http://the-scientist.com/2012/03/01/the-specter-of-denialism/

 

Posted by
Robert Karl Stonjek

New discovery reveals how protein protects cells from HIV infection

 by bio_chief16

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“Finding offers potential new drug targets aimed at slowing progression of disease”

A novel discovery by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues reveals a mechanism by which the immune system tries to halt the spread of HIV. Harnessing this mechanism may open up new paths for therapeutic research aimed at slowing the virus’ progression to AIDS. The study appears online ahead of print today in Nature Immunology.

“A lot of research on viruses, especially HIV, is aimed at trying to understand what the body’s mechanisms of resistance are and then to understand how the virus has gotten around these mechanisms,” said co-lead investigator Nathaniel R. Landau, PhD, a professor of microbiology at the Joan and Joel Smilow Research Center at NYU School of Medicine.

The research focused on a protein called SAMHD1. Recent studies have found that immune cells, called dendritic cells, containing the protein are resistant to infection by HIV. Since the discovery, scientists have sought to understand how SAMHD1 works to protect these cells, with hopes that science might find a way to synthetically apply that protection to other cells.

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Dr. Landau and his team are now able to provide an answer: 

When a virus, like HIV, infects a cell, it hijacks the cell’s molecular material to replicate. That molecular material is in the form of deoxynucleotide triphosphates (dNTPs), which are the building blocks for DNA. Once the virus replicates, the resulting DNA molecule contains all the genes of the virus and instructs the cell to make more virus.

Researchers wanted to understand how cells containing the SAMHD1 protein are protected from such hijacking. They found that SAMHD1 protects the cell from viruses by destroying the pool of dNTPs, leaving the virus without any building blocks to make its genetic information – a process researchers call nucleotide pool depletion. “SAMHD1 essentially starves the virus,” Dr. Landau said. “The virus enters the cell and then nothing happens. It has nothing to build and replicate with, so no DNA is made.”

As a result, the most common form of HIV does not readily infect these cells. Instead, the virus has evolved to replicate mainly in a different kind of cell, called CD4 T-cells, which do not contain SAMHD1 and therefore have a healthy pool of dNTPs. Dr. Landau explained that the virus has evolved in such a way that it may deliberately avoid trying to infect immune cells with SAMHD1 to avoid alerting the greater immune system to activate a variety of antiviral mechanisms to attack the virus.

Viruses that are related to HIV, like HIV-2 and SIV, have developed a protein called viral protein X(VPX) that directly attacks SAMHD1. This allows the virus to infect dendritic cells, an important type of immune cell.

“Viruses are remarkably clever about evading our immune defenses,” Dr. Landau said. “They can evolve quickly and have developed ways to get around the systems we naturally have in place to protect us. It’s a bit of evolutionary warfare and the viruses, unfortunately, usually win. We want to understand how the enemy fights so that we can outsmart it in the end.”

Understanding the mechanism by which SAMHD1 provides protection to cells may provide a new idea about how to stop or slow the virus’ ability to spread, Dr. Landau explained. Potential future research efforts, for example, might focus on finding a way to increase the amount of SAMHD1 in cells where it does not exist, or to reduce the amount of dNTPs in cells vulnerable to infection.

“Over the past few years, a number of these natural resistance mechanisms have been identified, specifically in HIV, but some have potential applications to other viruses, as well,” he said. “This is a very exciting time in HIV research. Many of the virus’ secrets are being revealed through molecular biology, and we’re learning a tremendous amount about how our immune system works through the study of HIV.”

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Courtesy NYU School of Medicine

Handheld Pathogen Sensor Could Diagnose HIV in 30 Minutes

Two techs are better than one

By Clay Dillow 

Chaining Synthetic DNA to Detect Pathogens Two Y-shaped structures of synthetic DNA attach themselves to the target molecule in different places. From there, the other two arms of the "Y" can link with other similar DNA structures, causing pathogens to chain together into easily detectable clumps. Cornell

Working with support of the Bill & Medlinda Gates Foundation’s Grand Challenge to develop field-worthy point-of-care diagnostics for the developing world, a couple of Cornell researchers are mashing up their individual inventions to create a handheld pathogen detector that can quickly diagnose pathogens ranging from chlamydia and tuberculosis to HIV.
The portable device is a blend of a synthetic DNA tagging technology developed by Cornell biological and environmental engineering prof Dan Luo and a CMOS chip developed by Edwin Kan, an electrical and computer engineering professor. Luo’s technology does the actual detecting, while Kan’s chip is able to identify and respond to the amplified signals generated by the sensor. The result: a handheld disease targeting machine that can diagnose pathogens in half an hour rather than days.

The sensor works via Y-shaped segments of synthetic DNA that Luo’s research group devised. At the bottom of the Y the team installed antibody designed to target and lock onto a certain pathogen. On one of the upper arms it placed a molecule that will link up with other similar molecules in the presence of UV light. In practice, two slightly different Y-structures are introduced to a sample, where they attach themselves to opposite sides of any target pathogen molecule they come in contact with. But tiny strands of Y-shaped DNA attaching themselves to a single molecule doesn’t send a very strong signal--the entire combined structure is still so small that only highly tuned and very precise sensors or microscopes could detect that the DNA had attached itself to the pathogen at all. But if you have a bunch of DNA structures attached to a bunch of pathogen molecules, the signal is clearly amplified. As such, the handheld sensor will bathe samples in UV light causing the DNA structures to begin binding together in a chain that is far easier to detect than a single pathogen molecule or a single DNA structure. Kan’s sensor chip can then measure both the mass and charge of molecules that come in contact with it. From those measurements, the chip can tell whether the synthetic DNA chain is towing pathogen particles along with it--and thus if they are present in the sample or not.
Add some nanofluidics and a power source to the mix, and you basically have an inexpensive handheld diagnostic device ready to go to work far from the convenience of hospitals and well-stocked medical labs. Further tests will ensure that the system is durable enough to take a beating out in the field and still return valid diagnostic results. More via Cornell.

HIV in Colombo !!! [MUST READ]

   *Dear Friends, *

Kindly take a couple of minutes to go thru this. If useful
may advise others also. Please pass this on to others This happened in *
Colombo *recently and may happen elsewhere also.

few weeks ago, in *Savoy film hall, *
a person felt something poking from her seat. When she got up
to see what it was, she found a needle sticking out of the seat with a
note attached saying "You have just been infected by HIV". The
Disease Control Center (in Colombo ) reports many similar events
in many other cities recently. All tested needles were HIV Positive.
The Center also reports that needles have been found in cash dispensers at *
public banking machines *. We ask everyone to use extreme caution when
faced with this kind of situation.
All public chairs/seats should be inspectedwith vigilance and caution
before use.
A careful visual inspection shouldbe enough. In addition, they ask that
each of you pass this message along to all members of your family
and your friends of the potential danger.
Recently, one doctor has narrated a somewhat similar instance
that happened to one of his patients at the *Contrast Cinema in Dalugama. *

A young girl, engaged and about to be married in a couple of months, was
pricked while the movie was going on. The tag with the needle had the
message " Welcome to the World of HIV family". Though the doctors told her
family that it takes about 6 months before the virus grows strong
enough to start damaging the system and a healthy victim could survive
about 5-6years, the girl died in 4 months, perhaps more because of the
"Shock thought". We all have to be careful at public places, rest God help!
Just think about saving a life by forwarding this message.. Please, take a
seconds of your time to pass along.


With Regards,
Kithsiri Nandasena
I.A.S, Director of Medical & Research Institue

Sri Lanka ..

Study cracks genetic code for parasite

THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

Schistosoma haematobium...is the most devastating, particularly because of its link to cancer and AIDS. Image: skodonnell/iStockphoto Scientists have cracked the genetic code and predicted some high priority drug targets for the blood parasite Schistosoma haematobium, which is linked to bladder cancer and HIV/ AIDS and causes the insidious urogenital disease schistosomiasis haematobia in more than 112 million people in Africa. Schistomiasis is recognised by the World Health Organization as one of the most socioeconomically devastating diseases, besides malaria, and is in urgent need of extensive research and improved control.  Dr Neil Young and Professor Robin Gasser from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Veterinary Science led the project conducted with the world’s largest genome sequencing facility, BGI-Shenzhen and an international research team. They sequenced the nuclear genome of Schistosoma haematobium from a single pair of tiny worms using an advanced approach. The work has been published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Genetics. Schistosoma haematobium is one of three related species of schistosome to be sequenced, but is the most devastating, particularly because of its link to cancer and AIDS. The other two species are Schistosoma mansoni (Africa and South America) and Schistosoma japonicum (in parts of Asia) which both cause intestinal/liver disease in humans.  “This genome was the missing piece of a puzzle in schistosomiasis research. By revealing the genetic blueprint of Schistosoma haematobium, we now have a biological road map of the three major parasite species responsible for human schistosomiasis globally. Most importantly, the genome of Schistosoma haematobium will offer insights into how the intimate relationship between a parasite and its human host can induce malignant bladder cancer,” Dr Young said. “Currently there is no vaccine and only one drug available to treat Schistosoma haematobium infection, so revealing its genetic blueprint provides an unprecedented resource for the design of new disease interventions, including drugs and vaccines.” Schistosoma haematobium is transmitted from a freshwater snail to humans. Worms dwell in blood vessels and release eggs that become embedded in the bladder wall, and cause chronic immune-mediated disease and induce cancer. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Sustaining the future: Addressing HIV & AIDS and gender issues in agricu...

This video gives an overview of FAO's work in Malawi in mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS on rural communities and the agricultural sector.

New AIDS Vaccine Tested In Rwanda

Posted by Magnifique MIGISHA 

Minister of Health, Dr Agnes Binagwaho confirmed that new HIV Vaccines are currently in trial and has kicked off in Rwanda. 

Researchers from Canada started the first phase of the clinical trials on 25 people with no infection.

This research is sponsored by The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and in Rwanda it is implemented by San Francisco Project.

Dr Binagwaho told local media IGIHE.com via Twitter that this AIDS Vaccine has been started to be tried in Rwanda.

“Yes, we have a trial that has shown best adherence of participants. Sponsored by The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and implemented by PSF,” Binagwaho noted.

Two categories of vaccines are in test in Rwanda, those are HIV MAG-IL12 and Ad35-GRIN-ENV in one trial.

The Press reports indicate that the vaccine is unique in that it uses a dead HIV-1 virus similar to vaccines used against polio and influenza and is genetically engineered to be non-pathogenic, meaning it won’t cause HIV in recipients.

Binagwaho added that Rwanda work hand in hand with partners to serve global science and global fight against.

“One benefit of the trial is having financial access to it when it is available, everyone in the world has to contribute at his/her level. This is how we would have full access.” said Minister of Health.

The International AIDS Vaccine Initiative works with individuals and organizations in developing countries to conduct epidemiological studies, social-science research, educational initiatives, voluntary counseling and testing consultations and capacity-building to ensure transparent and effective clinical trial processes.

Partners include the Kenya AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Rwanda’s Project San Francisco and the Uganda Virus Research Institute.

Seventy five people are in test where each country has 25 people.

Story by Magnifique Migisha, a Journalist from Rwanda, East Africa.

எய்ட்ஸ் நோயை குணப்படுத்த புதிய மருந்து கண்டுபிடிப்பு

உயிர்க்கொல்லி நோயான எய்ட்ஸ் நோயை குணப்படுத்த மருந்து கண்டுபிடிக்கும் முயற்சியில் சர்வதேச விஞ்ஞானிகள் ஈடுபட்டுள்ளனர். இந்நிலையில் எய்ட்ஸ் நோய் பரவாமல் கட்டுப்படுத்தும் புதிய மருந்தை அமெரிக்க விஞ்ஞானிகள் தயாரித்துள்ளனர். அமெரிக்காவில் உள்ள உதா பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் மருந்தியல் பள்ளி ஆராய்ச்சியாளர்கள் இந்த புதிய மருந்தை கண்டுபிடித்துள்ளனர். மனித குரங்குகளில் இருந்து உருவாகும் எச்.ஐ.வி வைரஸ் கிருமிகள் சிறிய வகை குரங்குகள் மூலம் மனிதர்களுக்கு எய்ட்ஸ் கிருமிகளாக பரவுகின்றன. அவ்வாறு பரவும் எச்.ஐ.வி வைரஸ் கிருமிகளை இந்த மருந்து அழிக்கும் தன்மை உடையது. இதை எச்.ஐ.வி கிருமிதாக்கிய 40 குரங்குகளுக்கு செலுத்தி சோதித்து பார்த்ததில் பரிசோதனை வெற்றி அடைந்துள்ளது. எனவே எய்ட்ஸ் நோய் மேலும் உருவாகாமல் தடுக்க முடியும். தற்போது எச்.ஐ.வி கிருமிகளை அழிக்க கண்டுபிடிக்கப்பட்டிருக்கும் இந்த மருந்தின் மூலம் எய்ட்ஸ் நோயை முற்றிலும் குணப்படுத்தும் புதிய மருந்தை தயாரிக்க முடியும் என விஞ்ஞானிகள் நம்பிக்கை தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.

Study finds how HIV hijacks us

THE UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

"Knowing the structure of the enzyme revealed details on how viruses hijack human enzymes using them to replicate and cause infection." Image: Henrik5000/iStockphoto Scientists have determined the structure of the enzyme endomannosidase, significantly advancing our understanding of how a group of devastating human viruses including HIV and Hepatitis C hijack human enzymes to reproduce and cause disease. The findings open the door to the development of new drugs to combat these deadly viruses that infect more than 180 million people worldwide. The team of international scientists led by Associate Professor Spencer Williams from the University of Melbourne’s Bio21 Institute and Professor Gideon Davies from the University of York in the UK, studied bacterial endomannosidase as a model for the same human enzyme and successfully determined the three dimensional structure of the enzyme using state of the art synchrotron technology. Dr Williams said that knowing the structure of the enzyme revealed details on how viruses hijack human enzymes using them to replicate and cause infection. “If we understand how the viruses use our enzymes, we can develop inhibitors that block the pathway they require, opening the door to drug developments,” he said. “In the past the problem has been that this group of viruses including HIV, Hepatitis C, Dengue Fever and West Nile virus, are able to bypass the main pathway if inhibited and replicate via a second pathway using this enzyme. Thus for a treatment to be effective, both pathways need to be blocked. “It was already known how to block the main pathway for these viruses but until now, this endomannosidase bypass pathway has proved a considerable challenge to study. “Combining international resources and expertise, we were able to determine the endomannosidae structure and this has revealed how we can block the bypass route, stopping the viruses from hijacking human enzymes.” Professor Davies from the University of York said that the team hopes that the work will lead beyond viruses and will point the way towards similar treatments for other diseases including cancer. The study is published in the international journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) this week. Editor's Note: Original news release can be found here.

Science’s breakthrough of the year: HIV treatment as prevention

 by Biomechanism 

A clinical trial that revitalized HIV research tops the journal’s list of advances in 2011

The journal Science has lauded an eye-opening HIV study, known as HPTN 052, as the most important scientific breakthrough of 2011. This clinical trial demonstrated that people infected with HIV are 96 percent less likely to transmit the virus to their partners if they take antiretroviral drugs (ARVs).

The findings end a long-standing debate over whether ARVs could provide a double benefit by treating the virus in individual patients while simultaneously cutting transmission rates. It’s now clear that ARVs can provide treatment as well as prevention when it comes to HIV, researchers agree.

In addition to recognizing HPTN 052 as the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year,Science and its publisher, AAAS, the nonprofit science society, have identified nine other groundbreaking scientific accomplishments from the past year and compiled them into a top 10 list that will appear in the 23 December issue.

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Myron Cohen from the University of North Carolina’s School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, N.C. and an international team of colleagues kicked off the HPTN 052 study in 2007 by enrolling 1,763 heterosexual couples from nine different countries: Brazil, India, Thailand, the United States, Botswana, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa and Zimbabwe. Each participating couple included one partner with an HIV infection.

The researchers administered ARVs to half of those HIV-infected individuals immediately and waited for the other half of the infected participants to develop CD4 counts below 250 — indicative of severe immune damage — before offering treatment. (A CD4 count below 200 indicates AIDS.)

Then, earlier this year, four years before the study was officially scheduled to end, an independent monitoring board decided that all infected study participants should receive ARVs at once. The board members had seen the dramatic effects of early ARV treatment on HIV transmission rates, and they recommended that the trial’s findings be made public as soon as possible. Subsequently, the results of HPTN 052 appeared in the 11 August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

“This [HPTN 052 trial] does not mean that treating people alone will end an epidemic,” said Science news correspondent Jon Cohen, who wrote about the trial for Science’s Breakthrough of the Year feature. “But, combined with three other major biomedical preventions that have proven their worth in large clinical studies since 2005, many researchers now believe it is possible to break the back of the epidemic in specific locales with the right package of interventions.”

Treatment with ARVs was already known to reduce the viral load, or the actual amount of HIV, in an infected individual. Many HIV/AIDS researchers had thus reasoned that treated individuals should also be less infectious. But, before HPTN 052, skeptics had contended that such a theory was unproven — and that the viral load might not reflect levels of virus in genital secretions.

“Most everyone expected that reducing the amount of virus in a person would somewhat reduce infectiousness,” explained Jon Cohen. “What was surprising was the magnitude of protection and then the impact the results had among HIV/AIDS researchers, advocates and policy-makers.”

These findings have added important momentum to a movement, already underway, that promotes the ongoing treatment of HIV to reduce viral loads in communities and could possibly eliminate HIV/AIDS epidemics in some countries. But moving forward won’t be easy, researchers say.

“There are huge hurdles when it comes to applying this clinical trial evidence to a population,” said Jon Cohen. “Some 52 percent of the people who need ARVs immediately for their own health right now have no access — and that’s 7.6 million people. What’s more, there are all sorts of obstacles that hinder attempts to scale this up that have more to do with infrastructure than the purchase price of drugs.”

Still, some researchers consider HPTN 052 a “game-changer” because of its near-100 percent efficacy in reducing HIV transmission rates. And, indeed, it has already sprung many clinicians and policy-makers into action. For all these reasons, Science spotlights the HPTN 052 study as the 2011 Breakthrough of the Year.

Science’s list of nine other groundbreaking scientific achievements from 2011 follows.

The Hayabusa Mission: After some near-disastrous technical difficulties and a stunningly successful recovery, Japan’s Hayabusa spacecraft returned to Earth with dust from the surface of a large, S-type asteroid. This asteroid dust represented the first direct sampling of a planetary body in 35 years, and analysis of the grains confirmed that the most common meteorites found on Earth, known as ordinary chondrules, are born from these much larger, S-type asteroids.

Unraveling Human Origins: Studying the genetic code of both ancient and modern human beings, researchers discovered that many humans still carry DNA variants inherited from archaic humans, such as the mysterious Denisovans in Asia and still-unidentified ancestors in Africa. One study this year revealed how archaic humans likely shaped our modern immune systems, and an analysis of Australopithecus sediba fossils in South Africa showed that the ancient hominin possessed both primitive and Homo-like traits.

Capturing a Photosynthetic Protein: In vivid detail, researchers in Japan have mapped the structure of the Photosystem II, or PSII, protein that plants use to split water into hydrogen and oxygen atoms. The crystal-clear image shows off the protein’s catalytic core and reveals the specific orientation of atoms within. Now, scientists have access to this catalytic structure that is essential for life on Earth — one that may also hold the key to a powerful source of clean energy.

Pristine Gas in Space: Astronomers using the Keck telescope in Hawaii to probe the faraway universe wound up discovering two clouds of hydrogen gas that seem to have maintained their original chemistry for two billion years after the big bang. Other researchers identified a star that is almost completely devoid of metals, just as the universe’s earliest stars must have been, but that formed much later. The discoveries show that pockets of matter persisted unscathed amid eons of cosmic violence.

Getting to Know the Microbiome: Research into the countless microbes that dwell in the human gut demonstrated that everyone has a dominant bacterium leading the gang in their digestive tract: Bacteroides, Prevotella orRuminococcus. Follow-up studies revealed that one of these bacteria thrives on a high-protein diet while another prefers vegetarian fare. These findings and more helped to clarify the interplay between diet and microbes in nutrition and disease.

A Promising Malaria Vaccine: Early results of the clinical trial of a malaria vaccine, known as RTS,S, provided a shot in the arm to malaria vaccine research. The ongoing trial, which has enrolled more than 15,000 children from seven African countries, reassured malaria researchers, who are used to bitter disappointment, that discovering a malaria vaccine remains possible.

Strange Solar Systems: This year, astronomers got their first good views of several distant planetary systems and discovered that things are pretty weird out there. First, NASA’s Kepler observatory helped identify a star system with planets orbiting in ways that today’s models cannot explain. Then, researchers discovered a gas giant caught in a rare “retrograde” orbit, a planet circling a binary star system and 10 planets that seem to be freely floating in space — all unlike anything found in our own solar system.

Designer Zeolites: Zeolites are porous minerals that are used as catalysts and molecular sieves to convert oil into gasoline, purify water, filter air and produce laundry detergents (to name a few uses). This year, chemists really showed off their creativity by designing a range of new zeolites that are cheaper, thinner and better equipped to process larger organic molecules.

Clearing Senescent Cells: Experiments revealed that clearing senescent cells, or those that have stopped dividing, from the bodies of mice can delay the onset of age-related symptoms, such as cataracts and muscle weakness. Mice whose bodies were cleared of these loitering cells didn’t live longer than their untreated cage-mates — but they did seem to live better, which provided researchers with some hope that banishing senescent cells might also prolong our golden years.

_____________

Courtesy American Association for the Advancement of Science

In 2011, UNC's Dr. Myron Cohen and his team made a major research discovery in HIV prevention. Early results of HTPN 052 suggest that sexual transmission of HIV can be virtually stopped if the infected person is treated with antiretroviral medications fairly early. 

Science magazine named it the 'Breakthrough of the Year' in their Dec. 23, 2001 issue.