A
new state-of-the art laboratory will underpin research by top scientists at
the Centre for Clinical Immunology and Biomedical Statistics (CCIBS) to develop
a new HIV vaccine.
The Centre, a collaborative venture between Murdoch University and Royal Perth Hospital, has been approaching the development of an HIV vaccine from a unique angle, working with the virus’s ability to tailor itself to an individual’s immune response.
Executive Director of the CCIBS Professor Simon Mallal and his team have been internationally credited for making several key advances in HIV research. His novel research approach of combining HIV research with computing and biostatistical methods has been highly praised.
An HIV physician, clinical immunologist and immunopathologist at Royal Perth Hospital, Professor Mallal was recently honoured with the 2005 top science award for Western Australia – the Premier’s Prize for Achievement in Science.
Professor Mallal said the opening last month of the world-class refurbished laboratory at Royal Perth Hospital, outfitted with state-ofthe- art equipment and computers, was fundamental to the progress of his work.
“These new facilities will help us in the global battle to control HIV and other infectious diseases,” he said. “It represents the reality of a long-held dream to be able to contribute to a higher degree to the work we have already done.”
“HIV has been difficult to treat with drugs or prevent with a vaccine because of its high mutation rate. However, these mutations are not random; rather, they are adapting to each individual’s genetic makeup to evade the immune response.”
Professor Mallal and his team found that the virus could recognise and mutate itself to individual HLA types, which are the surface recognition molecules that act like the PIN of the individual’s immune system.
“There are so many variants of the virus that eventually a mutation may appear that bypasses the HLA type of a person’s body, and then begins to replicate more successfully. So now that we understand what sorts of mutations occur in the virus against different HLA types, we are assisting groups around the world to design more effective vaccines.”
“These new facilities will help us in the global battle to control HIV and other infectious diseases.”
Professor Simon Mallal
Winner of the Premier’s Prize for Achievement in Science 2005
The team will work to characterise HIV and human genetics with communities in Africa, China, the United States, Australia, the Caribbean and South America to allow scientists to design vaccines for those populations.
Professor Mallal said the principles that were defined in the research had important and far-reaching implications for other infectious diseases like Hepatitis B and C and influenza.
Over the last six years Professor Mallal and his team have attracted in excess of $20 million funding, including more than US$12 million from the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation to continue the HIV vaccine research, and $2.3 million from the State’s Centre of Excellence program to build the world-class research facility.
Among the key findings made by the team over the years is the discovery of how some treatments for HIV cause fat wasting, and a 2002 Seminal paper in science described how the HLA types of individuals in a population shape HIV genetic diversity.
February 2002 saw the discovery of one of the first widely used pharmacogenetic tests - a genetic test used to prevent prescription of an HIV drug to individuals who are genetically predisposed to a potentially life threatening allergic reaction to the drug.
