Edinburgh, which saw one of the most explosive epidemics of HIV in Europe
during the early 1980s, has opened a new Centre for HIV Research. The centre
was launched this week as part of the city鈥檚 International Science Festival.
Funded jointly by the University of Edinburgh, the Medical Research
Council and the Lothian Health Board, the centre will coordinate relevant
work by AIDS researchers from different disciplines.
Among its key functions will be a 鈥榲irus bank鈥� to store samples of HIV
and monitor genetic changes. Researchers are also analysing biological characteristics
of the virus that influence its spread from person to person and the way
the virus interacts with the immune system.
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Robin Weiss, a leading HIV researcher the Institute of Cancer Research
in London, said the centre鈥檚 researchers were doing 鈥榯ruly some of the best
research in the world鈥� on HIV and AIDS.
