New Research Lab Nearing Completion
In July 2010, AIDS Research Alliance won $250,000 to purchase state-of-the-art laboratory equipment from the Pepsi Refresh Project, an online social marketing campaign. Since receiving that award, AIDS Research Alliance’s Medical Director, Dr. Stephen J. Brown, has taken great care to plan and build a research laboratory to meet our specific scientific goals.
Today, our new research lab funded by Pepsi Refresh, as well as a $20,000 gift from the Entertainment AIDS Alliance, is almost complete. All of the needed laboratory equipment—including a flow cytometer that cost over $65,000—has been purchased, installed and calibrated. The new laboratory is currently being outfitted with the supplies and reagents needed to begin an important series of experiments.
“Our new laboratory capacity will expand the scope and speed the pace of our prostratin research,” said new Post Doctoral Fellow, Marisa Briones, PhD, who recently joined the staff of AIDS Research Alliance to manage our new lab and to conduct the actual laboratory experiments. Earlier studies conducted by AIDS Research Alliance, as well as research conducted independently, suggest that prostratin may help the body to “see” latent virus, so existing anti-HIV drugs can eradicate these hidden “reservoirs” of HIV.
“Everyone nationwide who helped AIDS Research Alliance win the Pepsi Refresh award should be very proud of their contributions to our research,” Dr. Briones said. Dr. Briones hopes the first round of prostratin experiments will begin by May 2011.
