Duke CFAR Newsletter - February 12, 2025
In this newsletter:
News from the CFAR
Upcoming Events
Staying Up to Date
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Thankful to be in community | |
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Researchers at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute successfully created an HIV vaccine candidate that guides key immune cells along an evolutionary pathway to become broadly neutralizing antibodies.
In studies using mice, the immunogen activates diverse precursors of a specific broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) and starts the maturation of these antibodies at high enough levels to be a viable component of an HIV vaccine.
“A successful vaccine will need to induce lot of antibodies that target key regions of the virus, so these results are just one part of that goal, but a promising step,” said Mihai L. Azoitei, Ph.D., associate professor in the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and the Department of Cell Biology at Duke and lead author of a study featured on the cover of the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Azoitei and colleagues, building on a previous version of the immunogen developed at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, aimed to increase the frequency of the mutations triggered by the immunogen.They used computational modeling and structural analysis to enhance the immunogen’s ability to activate diverse bnAb precursors and to acquire the rare mutations that lead to bnAbs.
The resulting immunogen activated diverse precursors of an HIV V3-glycan bnAb – antibodies that target a key site of vulnerability on the outer envelope of the virus -- and promote their acquisition of a functionally critical mutation. The immunogen was validated biochemically, structurally, and in three different humanized mouse models that were designed to evaluate HIV vaccine candidates.
“These results provide a blueprint for rationally designing vaccine candidates that engage different immune cells and guide them on the path to producing protective antibodies against HIV,” Azoitei said. Further tests in primates and humans are planned.
Read the full article.
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Trainees Practice Effective Science Communication Skills through... Improv?? | |
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Effective science communication can shape public policy, foster collaboration, and inspire action. In a recent two-day immersive workshop led by the Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science and sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Research Training Program in AIDS (IRTPA) T32, trainees and early-stage investigators honed their skills in building trust, crafting clear messages, and engaging diverse audiences. Drawing on concepts from improvisation, participants practiced creating compelling narratives, navigating challenging conversations, and making complex research accessible. Through hands-on exercises and feedback from facilitators and peers, they refined their ability to communicate with clarity and impact.
Thank you to the T32 program for offering this training opportunity to many of our CFAR researchers!
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Attending CROI? Submit your info by Feb 24!
Will you be attending or presenting at this year's CROI meeting?
If yes, we would like to know! We will make presentation information available to the Duke CFAR community to foster engagement and promote collaborative research among investigators. We honor the CROI embargo policy and will not release information until the information is made public by the CROI organizers.
Please take a moment and let us know by 2/24/25 if you are attending or have been selected to present by adding your abstract information to the survey here. Thank you for participating!
Submit your information.
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Updates & Congratulations
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Dr. Tonia Poteat, Professor in the School of Nursing, Associate Director of the CFAR Developmental Core, and Co-Director of the Duke SGM Wellness Program, was invited to serve on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council (OARAC).
Do you have news to share? We welcome any updates for us to share with the Duke CFAR community through our website and newsletter.
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Today! Black History Month Lecture with Nontombi Naomi Tutu
Wednesday, February 12, 2025 | 5pm ET | Penn Pavilion
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The Mary Lou Williams Center is excited to welcome Reverend Nontombi Naomi Tutu as our Black History Month speaker. Reverend Tutu, daughter of Nobel laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, draws on her experiences growing up under apartheid in South Africa to advocate for human rights and the cost of oppression. A race and gender activist, Rev. Tutu is passionate about truth and reconciliation. Register to join us Wednesday, 2/12 at 5pm in Penn Pavilion.
Register to attend.
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HANC Webinar - Inclusive HIV Prevention & Sexual Health: HIV Prevention, Sexual Health, and Aging
Thursday, February 13, 2025 | 11am - 12:15pm ET | Zoom
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Co-hosted by the Office of HIV/AIDS Network (HANC) and SAGE, this webinar, the second in the series, will feature a panel of older adults discussing HIV prevention and sexual health in the context of aging. Panelists will highlight the importance of ensuring that older adults are included in efforts to end the HIV epidemic, including discussing the unique challenges and opportunities related to HIV prevention and sexual health for older adults. The moderated discussion will also address the unique social, psychological, and systemic factors for older adults related to accessing PrEP, HIV & STI testing and sexual health messaging.
The session will highlight the importance of including underrepresented communities, especially older adults, in HIV prevention efforts and clinical trials to ensure more equitable healthcare outcomes.
The webinar will conclude with a Q&A session, providing participants the opportunity to engage directly with the panelists.
Register for the webinar.
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CFAR-wide Webinar - Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in People with HIV: Lessons Learned and Future Directions
Monday, February 24, 2025 | 3:30 - 4:30pm ET | Zoom
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Abstracts due February 24 - Palm Springs Symposium on HIV/AIDS
March 6-8, 2025 | Palm Springs, CA
The 2025 Palm Springs Symposium on HIV/AIDS will be March 6–8, 2025 in Palm Springs, CA. This is the thirty first of an annual series of conferences organized by the UCLA-CDU CFAR, UCI Cancer Research Institute, and the UCLA AIDS Institute. The aim of this conference is to provide the latest information and to facilitate discussion between researchers both in HIV/AIDS and in related disciplines. The 2025 meeting will address various aspects of HIV infection, ranging from basic aspects of HIV replication, host restriction factors and immunity, immunopathogenesis, and approaches to preventing and controlling infection.
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Keystone Symposia Meeting - HIV Cure: Antiretroviral Therapy-Free Control of HIV Infection
April 7-10, 2025 | Durban, South Africa
Join Keystone Symposia in exploring HIV Cure this April in South Africa! This meeting, which focuses on eradication and durable remission, is unique from any other in the Keystone Symposia lineup in that it not only directly addresses the need for a curative intervention in LMICs, it is also being held in one such country, organized by and drawing key participation from stakeholders from these hard-hit regions. Early registration ends February 25th.
There’s still time to participate as a poster presenter!
Poster Abstract Deadline: Monday, March 17, 2025
Learn more and register for the meeting.
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Duke Resources: Updates for navigating recent Executive Orders
Duke's Offices for Research & Innovation, Government Relations, Counsel, Finance, Public Affairs and other key university leaders are working together to understand the implications of these directives and to convey the importance of federally funded research in higher education. We have been in direct communication with policymakers and peer institutions.
A Message from OR&I Leadership:
We know this has been a time of rapid developments in the federal policy landscape. Leadership is actively monitoring updates from the administration and federal agencies, and is deeply engaged in key research issues. We ask you that during this time you take the following actions:
- Monitor the myRESEARCHpath navigating recent executive orders page for the latest institutional guidance.
- Continue to work on active federally sponsored grants and contracts, unless you have received a stop work order or termination notice related to a specific award. If you received a stop work order or termination, send a copy to grantsupport@duke.edu and you will be contacted directly by a central research office with guidance on how to proceed.
- If you have immediate questions or receive communication from an authorized representative of your sponsoring agency, please send them to grantsupport@duke.edu.
Duke leadership is continuing to actively monitor ongoing developments to understand and communicate any potential impacts to Duke research efforts, and we appreciate your continued partnership and patience.
Access resources on myRESEARCHpath.
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DGHI Event Recording and Recap: Experts Discuss Impact of U.S. Foreign Aid Freeze | |
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The abrupt halt to thousands of U.S. global health and humanitarian aid programs puts lives at risk, researchers say.
Dorothy Dow, M.D., was on an 11-hour bus ride across Tanzania when she received news about the order from the U.S. State Department to freeze all spending on foreign aid programs. Dow, an associate professor of pediatrics and global health at Duke, was on her way to lead training to integrate a peer-led mental health intervention into routine HIV care for adolescents in several parts of the country, a pilot project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), one of the many federal programs impacted by the freeze.
“Two hours into the bus ride, I had to get off, call my team to tell them the news, and go back home,” Dow said during a Think Global event on Feb. 5 exploring the impacts of the foreign aid freeze and other recent actions taken during the first weeks of U.S. President Donald Trump’s term. “The ripples of this are huge. … It feels irresponsibly actioned by the U.S. government, and honestly it feels inhumane for those who are suffering.”
Four Duke experts on global health and foreign policy spoke during the event, hosted by the Duke Global Health Institute and moderated by DGHI director Chris Beyrer, M.D. All echoed Dow’s concern that the administration’s actions are irreversibly damaging U.S.-led global health efforts and putting lives at risk. Read more.
Access the event recap and recording.
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DGHI in the Media
Here’s what researchers are saying about the implications of the U.S. administration’s actions on foreign aid and public health. Topics include:
- Proposed policy to cut funding for the National Institutes of Health
- U.S. withdrawal from the WHO
- The impact of freezing foreign aid
- The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., to lead the Department of Health and Human Services
- Gender identity and NIH research
Read comments by DGHI experts.
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