Research

I went to work with Rose at KNH, today. I helped a little on a UW Medicine Research project called the CAT study. It is looking at monogamous couples that have been together for some time: one who is HIV+ and the other who is HIV-. They are studying how sometimes in situations like this, the HIV- partner is continually exposed to the virus but remains negative. They are taking blood samples at various intervals from both the HIV+ & HIV- partner to monitor whether the negative partner remains negative. They are looking for some sort of indicator allowing resistance to the virus. They follow the couple for 6 months. (I have heard previously that they (HIV researchers) suspect that the HIV virus requires a specific surface glycoprotein on the cell to be invaded for the virus to be able to attach. The absence of this surface glycoprotein disables the virus from attaching, and therefore, the person exposed is unable to become infected with HIV.)