JIAS Now Recruiting a Monitoring Editor

To complement its existing staff of 40 in Geneva, the IAS is seeking a Monitoring Editor for the Journal of International AIDS Society (JIAS), starting 1 March. The position will be full-time, based at the IAS office in Geneva, Switzerland and will report to the JIAS Executive Editor. This is a fixed-term contract from 1 March to 31 December 2010.

In this role the candidate will work with the JIAS editorial team, the journal publisher, authors and reviewers, taking part all steps related to manuscript publication, as well as other activities to strengthen the capacity of authors from low- and middle-income countries.

A full description of the position, including tasks, required skills and qualifications, can be found here (http://www.iasociety.org/).

Priority will be given to candidates from Switzerland, those from an EU/EFTA country and those who already have a valid Swiss working permit.

The applications will be considered in real-time, as they come in, and the interviews with suitable candidates may take place before the closing date.

Interested and qualified candidates should send their CV and a cover letter, in English and by email only, to recruitment@iasociety.org by 30 January 2010.

The IAS is committed to recruiting and sustaining a skilled, effective, diverse and gender-balanced secretariat, and to the greater involvement of people living with HIV (GIPA) in all aspects of its work. People living with HIV are strongly encouraged to apply.

Posted by Edith Gruslin at 13:55    Comments (0)

Apply Now for Fellowship Programme Encouraging HIV and Drug Use Research

With the support of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the International AIDS Society (IAS) has established a research fellowship programme, with the goal of contributing to advances in the scientific understanding of drug use and HIV, while fostering multinational research.

This fellowship programme consists of two awards: US$75,000 to be awarded to a junior scientist for an 18-month post-doctoral training; and US$75,000 to be awarded to a well-established HIV researcher for an eight-month long professional development training, both at leading institutes excelling in research in the HIV-related drug use field.

The two initial fellowships were awarded at the 5^th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2009), which took place in Cape Town, South Africa on 19-22 July 2009.

In 2010, up to four fellowships will be awarded in conjunction with the XVIII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2010), to be held in Vienna, Austria from 18 to 23 July 2010.  

Online applications will be accepted from 8 December 2009 until 10 February 2010. For more information about eligibility and the application process, as well as to apply, please click here. 

Any questions may be directed to IAS-NIDA@iasociety.org.

Posted by Edith Gruslin at 10:43    Comments (0)

Call for Concept Proposals: Creative and Novel Ideas in HIV Research Grant Programme (22 December 2009 Deadline)

Researchers who have not previously conducted HIV research are encouraged to apply. Researchers who have received any previous grants or contracts for HIV research are not eligible.

The developmental projects will be supported in collaboration with a CFAR institution with expertise in the candidate's proposed area of research. This will involve a competitive review process. The specifics of the 2-step application process are available on www.cnihr.org:

- Step 1: Submission of concept proposals until 22 December 2009

- Step 2: Full research proposals submitted until 22 April 2010

Posted by Edith Gruslin at 13:46    Comments (0)

Re-emergence of Syphilis Epidemic Among HIV Positive Men: Behavioural or Biological?

Since the late nineteen nineties, syphilis has remerged as a significant epidemic disproportionately affecting HIV-positive gay men. Is the re-emergence of the epidemic in this community due to behavioral or biological reasons?

This is the question that Jin and colleagues explore in their paper entitled, “High incidence of syphilis in HIV-positive homosexual men: data from two community-based cohort studies”, which was recently published in Sexual Health. In their paper, the researchers report incidence and risk factors for syphilis among two different cohorts of HIV-positive and negative homosexual men in Sydney, Australia. The authors conclude that syphilis incidence was almost ten times higher for HIV-positive than HIV-negative homosexual men and that unprotected anal intercourse with HIV-positive partners was a major factor in the transmission of syphilis.

Source:

Jin Fengyi, Prestage Garrett P, Zablotska Iryna, Rawstorne Patrick, Imrie John, Kippax Susan C, Donovan Basil, Templeton David J, Kaldor John M, Grulich Andrew E: High incidence of syphilis in HIV-positive homosexual men: data from two community-based cohort studies. Sexual Health 2009, 6(4):281–284.

Posted by Edith Gruslin at 15:37    Comments (0)

HIV/AIDS and Disability: thematic series

HIV infection, as well as its treatment, can cause physical, psychological and social disabilities that prevent people living with HIV from full and equal participation in society. At the same time, there is evidence that people with disabilities are at greater risk for contracting HIV. Although more attention is being paid to these overlapping fields, the field of HIV and disability remains largely overlooked.

The Journal of International AIDS Society is proud to be launching its first thematic series, which will focus on HIV and Disability. This series presents a number of papers on HIV and disability to provide readers with developments from the field and raise awareness on HIV and disability. These papers explore this central issue through a range of different perspectives including Law, African Studies, Public Policy, and Public Health.

We hope this thematic series will inspire discussions on the topics covered. Any reader who wishes to respond to an article or on the issue in general, may contribute to the discussion by using the 'post a comment' feature on the journal’s website.

Posted by Edith Gruslin at 18:07    Comments (0)

Open Access Week 19-23 October 2009

The first international Open Access Week is starting today! 

Open Access aims to remove the barriers to disseminating research by making research freely accessible online, immediately after publication.

This week, events are taking place all over the world to broaden awareness and understanding of Open Access to research. To see what is planned for your region or for further information on how to participate in Open Access Week visit the Open Access Directory wiki.

To help support the movement of Open Access all year long, see the list prepared by Peter Suber of things you can do to help promote Open Access.

Posted by Edith Gruslin at 07:50    Comments (0)

Five US universities to provide central funding for open access publication fees

On September 15 2009, Berkeley, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology announced a joint commitment to provide their researchers with central financial assistance to cover open access publication fees, and encouraged other academic institutions to join them. The aim of the Compact for Open Access Publication Equity (COPE) is to create a level playing field between subscription-based journals (which institutions support centrally via library budgets) and open access journals (which often depend on publication fees).

This initiative shows the increasing support to the open access and goes along with JIAS mission to ensuring peer-reviewed biomedical research is freely and universally accessible online. JIAS is pleased that support towards open access is growing and hopes the expansion will continue.

Source: BioMed Central blog here.

Posted by Edith Gruslin at 16:18    Comments (0)

Scientific Writing Workshop at IAS 2009

JIAS Workshop at IAS 2009

Publish or Perish:
A Workshop on Scientific Writing

21 July 2009, 18:30 – 20:30

Cape Town International Convention Centre, Mini Room 4

Do you have research you want to publish?

Do you want to strengthen your writing skills?

The Journal of the International AIDS Society (JIAS) is having a workshop on scientific writing, designed to help you (especially new and early-career HIV researchers) improve your knowledge and skills in writing and publishing for success.

Come and learn:

1) The major components of a scientific manuscript;

2) How to make your writing more efficient;

3) How to avoid the common problems with ethics and plagiarism; and

4) The submission, review and mentoring process.

The workshop will be in an interactive format, using sample manuscripts to inductively explore the common issues that junior researchers have when writing science.

This workshop is open to all IAS 2009 conference delegates.

Posted by Erica Layer at 08:02    Comments (0)

'Shock And Kill' Research Gives New Hope For HIV-1 Eradication

ScienceDaily (June 4, 2009) — Latent HIV genes can be 'smoked out' of human cells. The so-called 'shock and kill' technique, described in a preclinical study in the journal Retrovirology, might represent a new milestone along the way to the discovery of a cure for HIV/AIDS.

Dr. Enrico Garaci, president of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (the Italian Institute of Health) and Dr. Andrea Savarino, a retrovirologist working at the institution, worked with a team of researchers to study the so-called "barrier of latency" which has been the main obstacle to HIV eradication from the body.

Cells harbouring a quiescent HIV genome are responsible for HIV persistence during therapy. In other words, HIV-1 genes become pieces of the human organism, and many scientists have simply thought there is nothing we can do. Dr Savarino's team aimed to 'smoke out' the virus in order to render the latently infected cells targetable by the immune system or artificial means. They write, "This can be achieved using inhibitors of histone deacetylases (HDACs), which are a class of enzymes that maintain HIV latency. However, their effects on HIV are evident only when used in toxic quantities".

To overcome this problem, the Italian researchers tested a collection of HDAC inhibitors, some of which specifically target only certain enzyme isoforms (class I HDACs) that are involved in HIV latency. The toxicity of this approach, however, was not markedly decreased, although it compromises a more limited number of cellular pathways. Moreover, at non-toxic quantities, class I HDAC inhibitors were able to induce the 'awakening' of a portion of cells within a latently infected cell population. The researchers then repeated the experiment adding a drug inducing oxidative stress, buthionine sulfoximine (BSO). The results showed that BSO recruited cells non-responsive to the HDAC inhibitors into the responding cell population. An important result was that the infected cells' 'awakening' was followed by cell death, whereas the non-infected cells were left intact by the drug combination.

"I really hope this study may open new avenues to the development of weapons able to eliminate the HIV-infected cells from the body", says Dr. Andrea Savarino, "Such weapons, in combination with antiretroviral therapies, could hopefully allow people living with HIV/AIDS to get rid of the virus and return to a normal life. Of note, there are testable drug combinations composed of molecules that have passed phase I clinical trials for safety in humans". This type of approach has been dubbed 'shock and kill'. "Although this type of approach is largely accepted by the scientific community", adds Dr. Savarino, "to be honest, we have to take into consideration that some scientists are skeptical about this approach, and others even think that a cure for HIV/AIDS will never be found. Experiments using animal models will shed a new light on this difficult problem."

________________________________

Journal reference:

Andrea Savarino, Antonello Mai, Sandro Norelli, Sary El Daker, Sergio Valente, Dante Rotili, Lucia Altucci, Anna Teresa Palamara and Enrico Garaci. "Shock and kill" effects of class I-selective histone deacetylase inhibitors in combination with the glutathione synthesis inhibitor buthionine sulfoximine in cell line models for HIV-1 quiescence. Retrovirology, 2009; 6 (1): 52 DOI: 10.1186/1742-4690-6-52 <http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-6-52>

Article reference:

BioMed Central (2009, June 4). 'Shock And Kill' Research Gives New Hope For HIV-1 Eradication. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 5, 2009, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/06/090604095129.htm

Posted by Erica Layer at 10:24    Comments (0)

Apply now for a scholarship programme introducing basic and experimental scientists to the field of HIV research!

Have you received your Ph.D. in basic or experimental science within the last five years? Are you currently not involved in HIV research, but interested in learning more about the field? Then the International AIDS Society (IAS) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) scholarship programme introducing investigators to the field of HIV research might be for you!

Click here to find out how you can be awarded a full scholarship to attend the 5^th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Cape Town in July.

Apply now! Applications will be accepted until Tuesday, 19 May 2009.

Posted by Erica Layer at 10:47    Comments (0)

Introducing Investigators to the Field of HIV Research

International AIDS Society (IAS) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) Joint Programme Introducing Investigators from Other Scientific Disciplines to the Field of HIV Research

With the support of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the International AIDS Society (IAS) has established a scholarship programme to stimulate new innovative research in the field of HIV, primarily for scientists from other disciplines. It is anticipated that this program will attract the finest, basic and experimental scientists into HIV Research, encouraging new scientists to apply their expertise from other disciplines and bring new ideas and applications to the field of HIV research, with the aim of overcoming and shedding light on some of the scientific questions of HIV research.

As an introduction to the HIV field, 25 scientists - with an excellent scientific record and with no prior experience in HIV research – will be awarded a scholarship to attend the 5th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment in Cape Town in 2009 (IAS 2009). At the conference, a one day seminar / workshop with leading HIV scientists will be organized to introduce the scholarship recipients to the HIV field. Some of the areas that will be covered in the seminar include:

• complexity of the virus infection
• milestones in the history of HIV/AIDS
• key obstacles in developing effective prevention techniques
• key challenges in treatment strategies
• barriers to eradicating the virus

• have an earned doctoral degree in medicine or biomedical sciences and completed a minimum of two years post doctoral training
• have documented scientific record that includes peer-reviewed publications
• not currently be active in the HIV field
• have received their doctoral degree within the last five years

Posted by Erica Layer at 09:08    Comments (0)

HIV & DRUG USE FELLOWSHIP

International AIDS Society (IAS) and National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Joint Fellowship Programme Encouraging HIV and Drug Use Research

Now accepting applications!

Click here to access the online application. Applications will be accepted until Friday, April 17, 2009.

Any questions may be directed to IAS-NIDA@iasociety.org.

Posted by Erica Layer at 15:31    Comments (0)

Welcome Dr. Susan Kippax, new Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the International AIDS Society

The Journal of the International AIDS Society is delighted to welcome Dr. Susan Kippax as its new Editor-in-Chief. Dr. Kippax has more than 20 years’ experience in social sciences, with a focus on health, and an extensive track record of research related to sexuality and illicit drug use. She received her BA and PhD in social psychology from the University of Sydney, Australia. Dr. Kippax has held a number of academic appointments, most recently serving as the Director of the National Centre in HIV Social Research in Australia. Dr. Kippax managed and coordinated a research programme on the social aspects of the prevention and care of HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, and sexually transmitted infections. Her work has been published extensively in peer-reviewed journals and she has presented her work at international conferences, seminars, and workshops. She currently serves on a number of international and national HIV/AIDS committees. Dr. Kippax brings vast knowledge and experience to the Journal of the International AIDS Society and is a valuable addition to the editorial team.

Posted by Erica Layer at 15:44    Comments (0)

AuthorAID: Supporting developing country researchers in publishing their work

AuthorAID provides researchers in more than 50 countries with:

• a community space for discussion and questions where researchers can obtain advice
• access to documents and presentations on best practice in writing and publication
• world-wide training workshops on scientific writing
• a chance to network with other researchers
• personal mentoring by highly published researchers and professional editors

Find out more about the benefits of joining the AuthorAID community, or register now.

Posted by Anne Braae at 12:04    Comments (0)

IAS Mourns the Loss of Colleague, Martin Flynn

IAS Information Coordinator, and JIAS copy editor Martin Flynn, sadly passed away in the early hours of October 23rd. Martin joined the IAS in July of this year after many years as Editor of the magazine Positive Nation in the UK.

Martin suffered a heart attack one month ago, and ever since had been in intensive care at the University Hospital of Geneva. His partner of 20 years, Alex, was by his side when he died.

Martin, who was openly HIV-positive, used his skills as a journalist and editor to fight against ignorance, stigma and discrimination in the UK and internationally over the past two decades. He will be missed by all of us at the secretariat, but we will remain inspired by his passion, dedication and kind spirit.

We extend our heartfelt condolences to Alex and Martin’s family in this difficult time

Posted by Anne Braae at 13:57    Comments (0)