HIV

A University of Florida research team is playing its part to stop the global HIV epidemic, applying the power of artificial intelligence to medical records.

This past spring, Shantrel Canidate, M.P.H., Ph.D., was awarded a prestigious K01 grant, a research career development award from the NIH NIDA, for her work in HIV research.

Experts in viral evolution and artificial intelligence are teaming up to create an algorithm capable of predicting novel coronavirus variants before they become public health threats. They will also study how the coronavirus mutates in people coinfected with HIV and COVID-19 to better understand how variants emerge.

In 2016, Florida was second only to California for the number of new HIV diagnoses, and it consistently ranks among the top three states for its rate of new infections. The Miami metro area in particular has the highest HIV infection rate in the country, and Jacksonville is also counted among the top ten cities in the United States for its HIV infection rate.

Blood from HIV-infected human subjects shows an immune response against a cat AIDS virus protein, a surprise finding that could help scientists find a way to develop a human AIDS vaccine, report University of Florida and University of California, San Francisco researchers.