UAB Synopsis, Vol. 24, No. 12, April 4, 2005
UAB Assistant Professor Olaf Kutsch, PhD, recently received a 2004 Drug Discovery and Development Research Grant from GlaxoSmithKline. He and cowinners from the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center and the Weill Medical College of Cornell University will split the $250,000 prize. All are working on novel weapons in the fight against AIDS.
Dr. Kutsch's project involves a new method for screening compounds with the potential to inhibit HIV replication. Specifically, of his novel, high throughput screening system, he says: "For the first time, our system allows us to screen for HIV-1 Tat inhibitors with the capacity to immediately block HIV-1 expression. This capacity is considered essential for a transcription inhibitor to be effective in the clinical setting."
Winners were selected by an Expert Review Board, including UAB Professor of Medicine Michael Saag, MD, John Bartlett, MD, from Duke University Medical Center, and David Ho, MD, Rockefellor University, and scientific director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center.