HIV research receives financial recognition
Is it possible to strengthen HIV patients’ immune system to such an extent that they no longer need to take medicine every day for the rest of their lives? This is the focal point of the research being carried out by PhD and Associate Professor Ole Schmeltz Søgaard from Aarhus University and Aarhus University Hospital. He has now received a financial helping hand to further target his research in the form of a grant of DKK five million from the Lundbeck Foundation.
Today, around 37 million people live with HIV and must take medicine daily to keep the disease in check. Ole Schmeltz Søgaard is working to develop a cure that will enable the immune system to manage the HIV infection if patients stop taking their daily HIV medicine.
“I’m particularly interested in studying the immune system in those people who have been able to keep the level of virus down in clinical trials after they have stopped taking HIV medicine. I investigate which components of the patient’s immune system enable them to manage the viral infection to such an extent that they can completely do without the medicine for a time,” says Associate Professor Ole Schmeltz Søgaard.
The DKK five million will enable Ole Schmeltz Søgaard to focus his work on identifying new mechanisms which can be used to develop innovative treatment principles that may ultimately be able to cure the HIV infection. The grant is part of the Lundbeck Foundation’s Ascending Investigators programme, which supports experienced and talented researchers.
Contact
Associate Professor, PhD & First Registrar Ole Schmeltz Søgaard
Aarhus University, Department of Clinical Medicine and
Aarhus University Hospital, Department of Infectious Diseases
Tel.: (+45) 7845 2842
Email: olesoega@rm.dk