Penn Center for AIDS Research

Announcements

The Penn Center for AIDS Research (Penn CFAR) invites Pilot Grant applications.

All areas of HIV/AIDS are acceptable including clinical, basic, behavioral, and implementation science research. This year, we encourage projects focused on:

• HIV & Aging*
• Implementation Science*
• Single cell HIV reservoirs and immune analysis*
• Applying modified RNA technology to HIV research† with joint funding from the Penn Institute for RNA Innovation: 

* Pilot projects for investigators without prior R01-level funding in AIDS 

† Open to all investigators, including those who have been previously funded (in or out of the AIDS field), as long as the proposal reflects a major new research direction involving applications of modified RNA technology.

Pilot projects are intended to lead to independent HIV/AIDS funding. 

All proposals must address high or medium priority areas in the NIH Priorities for HIV/AIDS research

Application Deadline: January 30, 2023

See the Developmental Pilot Program Guidelines for details and the cover page and instructions.

---

CFAR iSPHERE SWG announces two new opportunities

The CFAR-iSPHERE SWG would like to offer two new opportunities to scholars interested in doing work at the intersection of HIV and implementation science. The goal of these opportunities is to increase accessibility for HIV researchers to do work in the implementation science space and vice versa.

We will be offering scholarships to provide financial support for the following:

• Open access publication fees for applicants whose manuscripts represent first-time HIV and implementation science work. 
  • For more information on what constitutes an implementation science manuscript, see Figure 1 of this manuscript, which distinguishes implementation science from efficacy research and effectiveness research. 

• Conference registration fees for applicants to attend their first HIV or implementation science conferences. An abstract acceptance is NOT required.
  • Examples of implementation science conferences:
    • Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health Conference (D&I)
    • Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC)
  • Examples of HIV conferences:
    • Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI)
    • International AIDS Conference
    • National HIV Prevention Conference
    • STD Prevention Conference
    • United States Conference on AIDS
    • Adherence Conference 
  • Websites to explore more conference opportunities:
    • aids2022.org
    • www.iapac.org/conferences/adherence-2022/
    • https://www.nimh.nih.gov/news/events/announcements

Creating opportunities for investigators to explore areas outside of their established expertise is key to our mission of building capacity and developing HIV implementation researchers. For that reason, priority will be given to early-career investigators and those with limited or no funding for their work. Applications will be fielded on a rolling basis in 2022. 

Please click here to fill out a brief survey detailing your request, and we will follow up with you by email. If you have any questions, please contact Deaujzhane.Coley@Pennmedicine.upenn.edu. 

---

Kathleen Brady on the decline in HIV testing in Philadelphia 

Kathleen Brady, MD, Acting Director of the AIDS Activities Coordinating Office of the Philadelphia Department of Public Health and CFAR Administrative Core Investigator, was interviewed recently by the Philadelphia Inquirer on the apparent decline in newly reported cases of HIV cases in Philadelphia - a direct result of a pandemic-related decline in testing.

From 2020 testing data alone, Brady said, “it looks as though our HIV outbreak in people who inject drugs is going away. But the reality is, if you don’t test people for HIV, you can’t diagnose them. That’s really what we’re seeing here. We don’t have a great understanding of what’s happening in the outbreak right now.” Read the full article here.

Dr. Brady was also interviewed by WHYY on the disturbing decline in newly reported cases of HIV in the city.

We know that the majority of new HIV infections are acquired from people who have HIV but are unaware of their HIV status,” said Dr. Kathleen Brady, acting director of the city’s Department of Public Health. “Our concern is that that proportion, and the size of that population, is now increasing, which certainly is concerning for ongoing HIV transmission and an increase in new HIV infections over time.  Read the full article here.

---

CFAR National Meeting Recordings Now Available!

 

From November 1-5, 2021 the Penn CFAR hosted the annual CFAR National Meeting, including keynote presentations by Dr. Tony Fauci and Dr. Rochelle Walensky. This was also an exciting opportunity to showcase the cutting-edge research happening here at Penn, CHOP, and Wistar and from our colleagues across the country, as well as the phenomenal work happening in our communities, both locally and nationally. Click here to watch the recorded sessions of the Community Symposium, Scientific Symposium, and the Early Stage Investigator Mentoring Workshop!

---

CFAR CAB Statement on COVID-19 and Black Lives Matter

The CFAR Community Advisory Board released a statement, in solidarity with the Penn CFAR Administrative Core, reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement and offering support and direction to the people of Philadelphia.

See the full June 29th, 2020 statement here.

---

CFAR Statement on HIV/AIDS and Social and Health Disparaties

In the wake of the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and George Floyd, and the resulting civil rights movement lead by Black Lives Matter, The Penn Center for AIDS Research released a statement reflecting on the parallels between COVID-19 and the HIV/AIDS crisis and the devastating toll these crises, in combination with systemic racism, have taken on marginalized communities.

See the full June 4th, 2020 statement here.

 

---

The Delaney Collaboratory to Cure HIV-1 Infection by Combination Immunotherapy (BEAT-HIV Collaboratory) is a consortium of more than 60 top HIV researchers from leading academic research institutions working with government, nonprofit organizations, and industry partners to test combinations of several novel immunotherapies under new preclinical research and clinical trials.