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Southern Africa bears the greatest burden from the global HIV epidemic, but lacked integrated clinical translational research programs.
In 1998, Dr. Bruce Walker visited South Africa obtain specimens from HIV infected infants in order to address the scientific question as to why children fared worse than adults when they became infected. He and his collegues realized there was an opportunity to conduct clinical studies locally, which would not only facilitate progress toward an HIV vaccine but also build local capacity to confront the epidemic and train the next generation of biomedical leadership in Africa. By building a multidisciplinary research center, greater scientific advances could be facilitated and talented African scientists who lacked opportunity to do cutting edge scientific research in Africa could be attracted.
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The resulting program, called the HIV Pathogenesis Program (HPP), is based at a research building that opened in 2003 at Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa. The building, called the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, was constructed under the leadership of Dr. Bruce Walker in collaboration with faculty leaders at Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine and with funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. |
| The Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, home of the HIV Pathogenesis Programme in Durban, South Africa. |
Within one year of opening the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute (DDMRI), home of the HIV Pathogenesis Programme (HPP), South African researcher with little previous HIV research experience published a paper in Nature magazine. Since then, there have been numerous advances that could only have come from such local HIV studies in a highly endemic area.
The DDMRI and HPP serve as a center for training of African scientists through regular workshops. In addition, approximately 5-10 African students and researchers annually have been sponsored to visit the Ragon Institute for short term training.
| Press and Multimedia: |
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Fighting AIDS now and in the future
"We've had a big impact, [but] it's our South African collaborators doing all the heavy lifting... we want to build sustainable local programs with local leadership." - Bruce Walker
Harvard World Media, February 2008 |
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Video: Thumbi Ndung'u, Director of HPP, talks about the research efforts and challenges of the HIV Pathogenesis Programme. [video] |
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The Zulu Word for Hope
Interview with HHMI Investigator and Ragon Institute Director, Dr. Bruce Walker in Durban, South Africa - HHMI Bulletin, February 2007 (pdf) |
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| Published Papers from HPP |
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Impact of HLA in Mother and Child on Disease Progression of Pediatric Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection
Christina F. Thobakgale, Andrew Prendergast, Hayley Crawford, Nompumelelo Mkhwanazi, Danni Ramduth, Sharon Reddy, Claudia Molina, Zenele Mncube, Alasdair Leslie, Julia Prado, Fundi Chonco, Wendy Mphatshwe, Gareth Tudor-Williams, Prakash Jeena, Natasha Blanckenberg, Krista Dong, Photini Kiepiela, Hoosen Coovadia, Thumbi Ndung’u, Bruce D. Walker, and Philip J. R. Goulder - Journal of Virology, October 2009, p. 10234-10244, Vol. 83, No. 19
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Human TRIM5 Expression Levels and Reduced Susceptibility to HIV-1 Infection
Shamman Sewram, Ravesh Singh, Emil Kormuth, Lise Werner, Koleka Mlisana, S. S. Abdool Karim, Thumbi Ndung’u, and the CAPRISA Acute Infection Study Team - JID 2009:199 (1 June) |
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Interleukin-10 Promoter Polymorphisms Influence HIV-1 Susceptibility and Primary HIV-1 Pathogenesis
Dshanta D. Naicker, Lise Werner, Emil Kormuth, Jo-Ann Passmore, Koleka Mlisana, Salim Abdool Karim, Thumbi Ndung’u, and the CAPRISA Acute Infection Study Team - JID 2009:200 (1 August) |
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Impact of Select Immunologic and Virologic Biomarkers on CD4 Cell Count Decrease in Patients with Chronic HIV-1 Subtype C Infection: Results from Sinikithemba Cohort, Durban, South Africa
Zabrina Brumme, Bingxia Wang, Kriebashne Nair, Chanson Brumme, Chantal de Pierres, Shabashini Reddy, Boris Julg, Eshia Moodley, Christina Thobakgale, Zhigang Lu, Mary van der Stok,3 Karen Bishop, Zenele Mncube, Fundisiwe Chonco, Yuko Yuki, Nicole Frahm,,a Christian Brander, Mary Carrington, Kenneth Freedberg, Photini Kiepiela, Philip Goulder, Bruce Walker, Thumbi Ndung’u, and Elena Losina - CID 2009:49 (15 September) |
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Aaptation of HIV-1 to human leukocyte antigen class I
Yuka Kawashima, Katja Pfafferott, John Frater, Philippa Matthews, Rebecca Payne, Marylyn Addo, Hiroyuki Gatanaga, Mamoru Fujiwara, Atsuko Hachiya, Hirokazu Koizumi, Nozomi Kuse, Shinichi Oka, Anna Duda, Andrew Prendergast, Hayley Crawford, Alasdair Leslie, Zabrina Brumme, Chanson Brumme, Todd Allen, Christian Brander, Richard Kaslow, James Tang, Eric Hunter, Susan Allen, Joseph Mulenga, Songee Branch, Tim Roach, Mina John, Simon Mallal, Anthony Ogwu, Roger Shapiro, Julia G. Prado, Sarah Fidler, Jonathan Weber, Oliver G. Pybus, Paul Klenerman, Thumbi Ndung’u, Rodney Phillips, David Heckerman, P. Richard Harrigan, Bruce D. Walker, Masafumi Takiguchi & Philip Goulder - Nature 458, 641-645 (2 April 2009) |
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