Cleveland Center for AIDS Research gets $9M renewal grant

The Center for AIDS Research at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals Case Medical Center has received a five-year renewal grant of $9 million from the National Institutes of Health.

The AIDS Research Center gives clinical and technological help to researchers working on HIV-related projects at the university and medical center, as well as at MetroHealth Medical Center, Cleveland Clinic and several international sites.

The center brings together and fosters work at different departments in several Northeast Ohio institutions, said Jessica Studeny, spokeswoman for Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. “This is a testament to the great HIV/AIDS team we have here at Case Western Reserve and University Hospitals Case Medical Center,” Studeny said.

The Cleveland AIDS Research Center has been a leader in the advancement of AIDS-related research worldwide for 16 years, said Jonathan Karn, the center’s director, in a release.

“We look forward to expanding our research into questions of how HIV causes disease, how to develop new strategies to eradicate the virus from infected individuals and how to limit transmission of the virus,” said Karn, who also is Reinberger Professor of Molecular Biology and chair of the Department of Molecular Biology and Microbiology at the university and medical center.

The Cleveland researchers plan to continue their HIV programs in Africa, building on their 20-year collaboration with Makerere University in Uganda, Karn said.

“This welcome award recognizes the excellence in HIV/AIDS research and care that reflect the longstanding commitment of our institutions, our faculty and our staff to the challenges posed by this pandemic,” said Dr. Michael Lederman, associate director of the research center, Scott R. Inkley Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve and infectious disease specialist at U.H. Case Medical Center.

“The AIDS research and care program here in Cleveland is now entering its 29th year,” said Lederman, a national AIDS expert. And for 23 years, the program has engaged in HIV research and care in the developing world “that is so hard hit by the medical, social and fiscal tragedies of AIDS,” he said.

The center’s new work will target “the critical problems that now face persons with HIV infection worldwide,” Lederman said. The renewal grant will position the center’s research and care program “to advance the field of HIV/AIDS research with the shared goal of eradicating infection and ending its pandemic spread,” he said.

The Cleveland Center for AIDS Research is one of 17 centers at academic and research institutions nationwide that are supported by the National Institutes of Health. Started in 1994, the Cleveland center is widely recognized for its leadership in HIV pathogenesis and international studies that involve clinical and international research.