Emory Vaccine Center Creates Minnesota AIDS Trek Pilot Fund

Emory University
Wednesday, 31 December 2003

As the primary beneficiary of the 2003 Minnesota AIDS Trek, the Emory Vaccine Center received $10,000 and has created the Minnesota AIDS Trek Pilot Fund, which will enable the Vaccine Center to expand its HIV vaccine research. The Minnesota AIDS Trek is the nation's original and longest-running AIDS fundraiser on bicycles.

The Emory Vaccine Center is among the nation's leading research centers developing vaccines to prevent global infectious diseases, with a major emphasis on developing an AIDS vaccine. An HIV vaccine developed at Emory and the NIH, widely considered one of the most promising HIV vaccine candidates, is currently being tested in human clinical trials. Emory scientists also are developing related HIV vaccine candidates they hope will soon enter clinical trials in other areas of the world. In addition to the clinical trials, 16 Vaccine Center research teams are working on a wide variety of scientific ventures, spanning the scope of basic immunology and molecular biology, with the goal of discovering how diseases attack the human immune system.

"Without this type of pilot funding, we could not gather the necessary data to move into larger trials and projects," said Amy Owen, the Emory Vaccine Center's senior associate director of development.

The Emory Vaccine Center has again been selected as the primary beneficiary of the 2004 Minnesota AIDS Trek, along with several local organizations.

The Minnesota AIDS Trek was created in 1987 and is now completely run by volunteers. The AIDS Trek is committed to raising funds and awareness to benefit those living with HIV/AIDS and the people who assist them, and to supporting HIV vaccine research.

Interested bicycle riders can register at the AIDS Trek's official website, www.aids-trek.org. The 2004 Minnesota AIDS Trek will take place August 6-8.

For more information, or to contact Emory University, see their website at: whsc.emory.edu