The first genome-wide association study of an infectious disease, conducted by an international group of researchers through the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology (CHAVI), has yielded a new understanding of why some people can suppress virus levels following HIV infection. “The clearer picture of host responses to the virus achieved through this examination of genomes could lead to improved HIV therapies and provides new targets for vaccine developers,” says Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). CHAVI, which is led by Barton Haynes, M.D., of Duke University, Durham, N.C., was established in 2005 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the NIH.
