SAN DIEGO BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE

HIV-associated neurological disease: Currently, more than half of HIV patients have HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND). Although drugs to control HIV infection have been instrumental in preventing progression to AIDS, they do not protect from HAND, which is now on the rise as this patient population is aging. SDBRI scientists working on HAND have discovered a biological process that we believe is involved in accelerating the aging process in people with HIV, increasing their risk of dementia. SDBRI scientists are now focused on designing and testing strategies to stop that biological process for the purpose of preventing the onset of dementia. In addition, drug abuse, particularly methamphetamine, increases the number of cells that HIV likes to infect in the central nervous system, increasing the HIV reservoir and aggravating inflammation. SDBRI research is focused on how methamphetamine encourages cells in the brain to attract and provide a home for HIV infection. This information will then be used to design therapies to stop HIV from infecting cells in the brain. A Senior Staff Scientist from France and a Staff Scientist. From Malaysia received salary and benefits while being trained at SDBRI in a variety of cellular immunology and sterile techniques to better understand the effect of methamphetamine on HIV infection in experimental models.

Multiple Sclerosis:Multiple Sclerosis is a debilitating autoimmune disease in which immune cells travel to the brain and spinal cord and destroy the protective coating that surrounds nerve fibers. Without the protective coating nerves are unable to send messages to different parts of the body and this causes an array of disorders including numbness in hands and feet, muscle weakness, fatigue, and blurred vision. It is estimated that there are 2.3 million people with MS worldwide. The goal of our cutting-edge research at SDBRI is to identify ways to manipulate and strengthen blood vessels so that the cells that cause multiple sclerosis (MS) are unable to enter the brain. In particular we seek to understand how the integrity of blood vessels in the brain is regulated by: (i) proteins of the extracellular matrix (ECM) that surround cells, and (ii) environmental stimuli such as mild hypoxia. By understanding these mechanisms, we can design new therapeutic approaches aimed at increasing blood supply and reducing vascular leak, thereby making blood vessels better equipped to protect against neurological damage. A Staff Scientist from Bangladesh and a Postdoctoral Fellow from Nepal received salary & benefits while being trained at SDBRI in cellular, molecular and biochemical techniques to learn how blood vessels can be strengthened and repaired and how we can use that information to stop and reverse MS.