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BURNET AT AIDS 2012Professor Sharon Lewin withProfessor Françoise Barré-Sinoussi at the Towards an HIVCure Symposium at AIDS 2012.on the Asia and Pacific regions,”she said.Among the 13 Burnet staffwho attended the conferencewas promising young scientist,Ms Nitasha Kumar.AIDS 2012It’s the biggestHIV conference inthe world, Bill andHillary Clinton, BillGates and EltonJohn were theremixing with leadingresearchers andscientists, includingthe woman behindthe discovery of thevirus, Nobel LaureateProfessor FrançoiseBarré-Sinoussi.At AIDS 2012 – the InternationalAIDS Society’s Conference inWashington – a large team fromBurnet shared the same stagewith many illustrious names.Professor Sharon Lewin, alsoCo-chair of AIDS 2014 to be heldin Melbourne, who followeda rousing speech by formerUS President Bill Clinton, tolddelegates that Washingtonwould be a hard act to follow,“…up there with speaking afterBill Clinton I think…” she joked.“…but together with mywonderful Co-chair FrançoiseBarré-Sinoussi, we are readyand up for the challenge.AIDS 2014 will be a regionalconference with a strong focusMs Kumar was awarded theprestigious International AIDSSociety (IAS)/Agence NationalRecherche de SIDA (ANRS)Young Investigator prize atthe conference.Her research on how dendriticcells assist the establishmentof latency, achieved the highestscoring abstract in ‘cureresearch’ in the basic sciencetrack, securing a cash prizeof $2000.“It was really humbling, I’vealways been interested in thehumanitarian side of thingswhich is why I decided to focuson HIV research,” Ms Kumar said.Dr Lachlan Gray presenting at AIDS 2012.Dr Lachlan Gray fromBurnet’s Centre forVirology was invitedto present his mostrecent work, a discoveryabout how HIV hidesin the brain, at AIDS2012 supported by anumber of scholarships,most notably fromthe InternationalAIDS Society.“The pre-conference Towards anHIV Cure wrapped up completinga two-day event that culminatedin the release of the NatureReviews Immunology paperTowards an HIV Cure: a globalscientific strategy, which wasprepared by the IAS ScientificWorking Group on HIV Cure.My colleagues, ProfessorSharon Lewin and AssociateProfessor Melissa Churchill areboth members of the workinggroup and it’s a great testamentto them and their pioneeringwork that they were selectedto join this very importantand instrumental group.Together the group undertooka comprehensive review of theresearch related to HIV cure andidentified seven major themesgoing forward that will aid in thedevelopment of HIV cure anderadication strategies.My presentation at the meetingwas well received and generateda lot of discussion.I really enjoyed presenting atAIDS 2012, covering half of theposter session as a rapporteur atthe pre-conference symposiumand chairing another sessionwith Nicholas Chomont.(Dr Nicolas Chomont is aprincipal investigator at theVaccine & Gene TherapyInstitute of Florida, USA andan internationally recognisedscientist who specialises in HIVand AIDS research.)We heard inspiring talks fromTony Fauci (Director NIAID), PhilWilson (Black AIDS Institute),Hillary Clinton and Elton John.My second presentation andchairing session went well andI met with a journalist fromNature and my co-chair NicholasChomont to discuss cure, latencyand the Berlin patient.”(Timothy Ray Brown is known asthe “Berlin patient”, becausethat’s where he received a bonemarrow stem cell transplant in2007 and has since claimed he iscured of HIV.)14 IMPACT Summer 2012