Michael Bukrinsky, M.D., Ph.D., professor of microbiology, immunology, and tropical medicine at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences and developmental core director of the DC Center for AIDS Research, received an R01 grant from the National Institute of Medicine for his research on HIV/AIDS.
His project, “Metabolic Complications of HIV Disease Caused by Nef Released from HIV-Infected Cells,” will analyze the role of the protein Nef when it is released from HIV-infected cells in metabolic co-morbidities, such as cardiovascular disease, dyslipidemia, atherosclerosis, and insulin resistance. Bukrinsky and his co-primary investigator have hypothesized that HIV-infected cells instigate these systemic metabolic diseases when Nef is released from viral reservoirs, and they will determine the mechanisms behind its extracellular activity.
