Recognizing National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day

October 15th is National Latinx AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD), which was first observed in 2003 by the Hispanic Federation and the Latino Commission on AIDS. NLAAD is an opportunity to help address the disproportionate impact of HIV on Hispanic/Latinx communities, promote HIV testing, and stop HIV stigma. NLAAD mobilizes community based organizations, leaders of the Latino community, health departments, and elected officials to spread awareness within the Latino community about HIV & AIDS, and bring about improvements in HIV related health practices by building capacity, developing and disseminated resources, utilizing media channels, and casting the spotlight on Latino faces behind the epidemic. Learn more and access resources for NLAAD.

News from the CFAR

18th Annual CFAR Fall Scientific Retreat highlights and award winners

The 18th Annual CFAR Fall Scientific Retreat was held at the JB Duke Hotel on Thursday, September 22, 2022. Couldn't make it? Visit the CFAR website to access the retreat book and recordings.

Each year, the Director's Award is given to a Duke CFAR member who has significantly contributed "value added" to the CFAR in the past year. This year's winner was Justin Pollara, PhD. Dr. Pollara is an Associate Professor in Surgery and is an Associate Director of the Developmental Core. Dr. Georgia Tomaras noted Dr. Pollara's research excellence and outstanding dedication that embodies the true spirit of the CFAR. Congratulations, Dr. Pollara!

CFAR Director Georgia Tomaras and Co-Director Susanna Naggie present Justin Pollara with the Director's Award. All retreat photos by John Hansen/RTP.Studio

During the retreat, over forty researchers presented their work at the poster session, demonstrating the breadth of research within the Duke CFAR. Poster abstracts can be found in the retreat book.

Awards were given to the top poster presenters in four categories. Congratulations to our award winners!

• Clinical: Helen Xu - Development of Interferon-Gamma Release Assays for Diagnosing Latent Talaromycosis
• Quantitative: Tianbei Zhang - Medicine Nonadherence Perceptions of People Living with HIV
• Social/Behavioral: Marta Mulawa - Understanding user engagement with an mHealth intervention supporting adolescents with HIV in South Africa
• Basic & Translational: Marina Tuyishime, presented by Rachel Spreng - Multivariate Analysis of Fc Receptor (FcR)-Mediated NK Cell Functions Identifies Unique Clustering Among Humans and Rhesus Macaques

Award winners (clockwise from top left) Helen Xu, Marta Mulawa, and Rachel Spreng. Not pictured: Tianbei Zhang and Marina Tuyishime. All retreat photos by John Hansen/RTP.Studio

Thank you to all who helped make the retreat a great success. We look forward to seeing you again next year!

Visit the retreat page on our website.

CFAR members helping to unravel the mysteries of the immune system

Understanding how the system functions harmoniously with our environment — and how we can harness its power to improve human health — is one of the five pillars of the Translating Duke Health Initiative.  

A recent article highlighted work by CFAR researchers at Duke:

From left: Brian Shaw, MD, Priyamvada Acharya, PhD, and R. Keith Reeves, PhD. Photo by LKT Photography 

"In late 2019, as the world started to hear whispers of an emerging virus in China, Priyamvada Acharya, PhD, associate professor in the Departments of Surgery and Biochemistry, was in the process of applying for a grant on human parainfluenza virus type 3 (HPIV-3).  

Acharya came to Duke in 2019 as a result of Translating Duke Health’s [and Duke CFAR's] recruitment efforts. As an immunologist who had studied the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) for most of her professional career, Acharya was interested in using the tools she had already learned and apply them to a new virus.  

The timing of this decision, it turns out, was serendipitous.  

'I started looking at the structure of the HPIV-3 fusion (F) protein, and was intrigued by its large central cavity,' Acharya said. 'It was a structure that was unique, in that it was ‘full of empty.’ We started looking at other viral proteins with similar large internal cavities, and came across the spike protein of coronaviruses. That’s when we turned our attention to SARS-CoV-2 that was emerging in China at the time.' 

Because Acharya was already funded by an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), she was able to receive a supplement to expand her work into studying coronaviruses and SARS-CoV-2. Previous efforts by the Translating Duke Health initiative to fund immunology research at Duke made this rapid pivot in research scope possible. [Read more.]

While the immune system fights its continuous battle, researchers like Acharya study the invaders: the bacteria, viruses, and pathogens that cause disease.  

Other scientists, such as R. Keith Reeves, PhD, professor in the Departments of Surgery and Pathology [and Director of the CFAR Developmental Core & Associate Director of the Immunology Core], focus their attention on the other side of the battlefield: investigating the biology of human cells and how they respond to these outside threats.  

Reeves was recruited to Duke from Harvard University in 2021, joining the newly created Center for Human Systems Immunology, which was founded to promote Translating Duke Health efforts. His research, supported by multiple R01 and P01 grants from the NIH, seeks to answer questions about the mechanisms and behavior of natural killer (NK) cells.

Unlike T and B immune cells, which adapt over time as they encounter pathogens, NK cells are generally considered part of the body’s innate immune response, attacking anything in the body that appears to be 'non-self.' Reeves has made notable strides in helping the scientific community understand the important role that NK cells play in the immune system.  

'It was thought for a long time that NK cells could not mount an adaptive response, that they can't adapt to individual antigens,' said Reeves. 'But actually, we were one of the labs that first described that NK cells could actually have adaptive memory functions.'

This discovery has opened the door for further investigation on how NK cells can be used in cell-based therapies, a major component of Reeves’ current research.  

'We are currently conducting molecular, cell-based, and protein assays to determine the mechanisms of how NK cells could best recognize an HIV-infected cell, or how they could recognize an influenza-infected cell,' Reeves said. 'Then going one step beyond that, we want to know what mechanisms they use to eliminate them, once the NK cells recognize a sick cell versus a healthy one.'

Read the full article.

Rolling deadline: CFAR Special Funding RFP addressing intersection of HIV and Monkeypox

The Duke Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) is soliciting applications for grants of up to $60,000 Direct Costs for one-year research projects that address the intersection of HIV and the Monkeypox Virus. The purpose of this funding opportunity is to support research aimed at evaluating all issues at the intersection of the current monkeypox outbreak and people living with HIV (PLWH). Proposals on basic biology, pathogenesis/immunology, epidemiology, clinical care, vaccines, and sociobehavioral considerations, will all be considered. For more information, see the RFP.

Learn more on our website.

Inter-CFAR Faith and Spirituality Research Collaborative Webinar - Syndemics and the Sacred: The Faith Response to Competing Pandemics

Thursday, October 13, 2022 |6pm ET

The Inter-CFAR Faith and Spirituality Research Collaborative are pleased to announce the re-launch of the quarterly webinar series with "Syndemics and the Sacred: The Faith Response to Competing Pandemics”. It will be held on Thursday, October 13^th at 6:00 PM Eastern / 5:00 PM Central.

This webinar will explore various community and faith-based responses to the current intersection of HIV, COVID-19, and Monkeypox in the United States, with focus on the role of faith communities in addressing these colliding public health crises.

The presentation will be hosted in a Zoom Webinar Panel in coordination with Tennessee CFAR and the Southeast AETC.

Register for the webinar.

Feasibility, Acceptability, and Preliminary Efficacy of a Gamified Mobile Health Contingency Management Intervention for PrEP Adherence Among Black MSM.

Mitchell JT, Burns CM, Atkinson B, Cottrell M, Frye JK, McKellar MS, Kashuba ADM, McClernon FJ, Okeke NL.

AIDS Behav. 2022 Oct;26(10):3311-3324. doi: 10.1007/s10461-022-03675-9. Epub 2022 Apr 13.

Risk and incidence of head and neck cancers in veterans living with HIV and matched HIV-negative veterans.

Mazul AL, Hartman CM, Mowery YM, Kramer JR, White DL, Royse KE, Raychaudhury S, Sandulache VC, Ahmed ST, Zevallos JP, Richardson PA, Sikora AG, Chiao EY.

Cancer. 2022 Sep 15;128(18):3310-3318. doi: 10.1002/cncr.34387. Epub 2022 Jul 22.

Baseline host determinants of robust human HIV-1 vaccine-induced immune responses: A meta-analysis of 26 vaccine regimens.

Huang Y, et al. EBioMedicine. 2022 Sep 27;84:104271. doi: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104271. Online ahead of print.

Impact of adjuvants on the biophysical and functional characteristics of HIV vaccine-elicited antibodies in humans.

Xu S, Carpenter MC, Spreng RL, Neidich SD, Sarkar S, Tenney D, Goodman D, Sawant S, Jha S, Dunn B, Juliana McElrath M, Bekker V, Mudrak SV, Flinko R, Lewis GK, Ferrari G, Tomaras GD, Shen X, Ackerman ME.

NPJ Vaccines. 2022 Aug 4;7(1):90. doi: 10.1038/s41541-022-00514-9.

Correlates of Blood Pressure Awareness, Treatment, and Control Among Adults 50 Years or Older by HIV Status in Northwestern Tanzania.

Muiruri C, Wajanga B, Kim C, Knettel BA, Mhina CJ, Bartlett JA, Msangi JJ, Msabah MA, Vilme H, Kalluvya S.

Curr Hypertens Rep. 2022 Aug;24(8):259-266. doi: 10.1007/s11906-022-01188-3. Epub 2022 Apr 6.

Early and Long-Term HIV-1 Immunogenicity Induced in Macaques by the Combined Administration of DNA, NYVAC and Env Protein-Based Vaccine Candidates: The AUP512 Study.

Perdiguero B, Asbach B, Gómez CE, Köstler J, Barnett SW, Koutsoukos M, Weiss DE, Cristillo AD, Foulds KE, Roederer M, Montefiori DC, Yates NL, Ferrari G, Shen X, Sawant S, Tomaras GD, Sato A, Fulp WJ, Gottardo R, Ding S, Heeney JL, Pantaleo G, Esteban M, Wagner R.

Front Immunol. 2022 Jul 22;13:939627. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.939627. eCollection 2022.

Functional consequences of allotypic polymorphisms in human immunoglobulin G subclasses.

Crowley AR, Richardson SI, Tuyishime M, Jennewein M, Bailey MJ, Lee J, Alter G, Ferrari G, Morris L, Ackerman ME.

Immunogenetics. 2022 Jul 29. doi: 10.1007/s00251-022-01272-7. Online ahead of print.

Prevalence and predictors of depression among women attending antenatal care in Moshi, Tanzania: a cross-sectional study.

Ngocho JS, Minja LM, Mwamba RN, Knettel BA, Kisigo GA, Mmbaga BT, Watt MH.

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth. 2022 Jul 26;22(1):594. doi: 10.1186/s12884-022-04917-3.

A clade C HIV-1 vaccine protects against heterologous SHIV infection by modulating IgG glycosylation and T helper response in macaques.

Sahoo A, Jones AT, Cheedarla N, Gangadhara S, Roy V, Styles TM, Shiferaw A, Walter KL, Williams LD, Shen X, Ozorowski G, Lee WH, Burton S, Yi L, Song X, Qin ZS, Derdeyn CA, Ward AB, Clements JD, Varadarajan R, Tomaras GD, Kozlowski PA, Alter G, Amara RR.

Sci Immunol. 2022 Jul 22;7(73):eabl4102. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abl4102. Epub 2022 Jul 22.

Simultaneous monitoring of HIV viral load and screening of SARS-CoV-2 employing a low-cost RT-qPCR test workflow.

Gulati GK, Panpradist N, Stewart SWA, Beck IA, Boyce C, Oreskovic AK, García-Morales C, Avila-Ríos S, Han PD, Reyes-Terán G, Starita LM, Frenkel LM, Lutz BR, Lai JJ.

Analyst. 2022 Jul 12;147(14):3315-3327. doi: 10.1039/d2an00405d.

PMID: 35762367

Prevalence and Correlates of Ischemic ECG Findings among Adults With and Without HIV in Tanzania.

Prattipati S, Sakita FM, Tarimo TG, Kweka GL, Mlangi JJ, Maro AV, Coaxum LA, Galson SW, Limkakeng AT, Rugakingira A, Urasa SJ, Okeke NL, Mmbaga BT, Bloomfield GS, Hertz JT.

Glob Heart. 2022 Jun 10;17(1):38. doi: 10.5334/gh.1127. eCollection 2022.

Don't see your paper listed? Make sure your publication is linked to the CFAR grant for funding. Visit the CFAR website for example text to use when acknowledging the CFAR and assistance by its Cores in your publications, abstracts, grant proposals, and presentations.

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