Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 23, 2026
Oral Combinational Antiretroviral Treatment in HIV-1 Infected Humanized Mice
Published on: October 6, 2022
The California HIV/AIDS Research Program: History, Impact, and HIV Cure Initiative
Lisa Loeb Stanga1, Anwer Mujeeb2, Laura Packel1
11 California HIV/AIDS Research Program, University of California , Office of the President, Oakland, California.
Insights
The California HIV/AIDS Research Program (CHRP) has funded groundbreaking HIV research for over 30 years. Their HIV Cure Initiative supports innovative studies aimed at finding a cure for HIV/AIDS.
Area of Science:
- Virology
- Immunology
- Public Health
Background:
- The California HIV/AIDS Research Program (CHRP) has been a key funder of HIV/AIDS research for over three decades.
- CHRP has supported foundational work including virus isolation, early treatment efficacy, drug resistance studies, and biospecimen banking.
- Recent CHRP-funded work includes advances in gene therapy for HIV and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) trials.
Purpose of the Study:
- To highlight the historical impact and ongoing contributions of the CHRP.
- To showcase selected results from the CHRP HIV Cure Initiative, a major funding effort launched in 2013.
- To provide an overview of CHRP's grantmaking process and its influence on HIV research.
Main Methods:
- This Special Issue presents findings from research projects funded by the CHRP HIV Cure Initiative.
- The article reviews the history, grantmaking, and impact of CHRP on HIV/AIDS research.
- Selected results from over $1.4 million in basic biomedical research grants are featured.
Main Results:
- CHRP has pioneered numerous advancements in HIV science, from basic research to clinical applications.
- The CHRP HIV Cure Initiative has funded critical basic biomedical research projects.
- Selected results from these projects are presented in this Special Issue, advancing HIV cure science.
Conclusions:
- CHRP has played a vital role in advancing HIV/AIDS research and addressing the epidemic.
- The CHRP HIV Cure Initiative represents a significant investment in the pursuit of an HIV cure.
- Continued funding and research are essential to overcoming the challenges of HIV/AIDS.
Abstract:
This Special Issue of AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses features results from the HIV Cure Initiative, funded by the California HIV/AIDS Research Program (CHRP). As a publicly funded grant maker, CHRP has served for more than three decades as a unique resource for innovative researchers in California, whose work seeks to address all aspects of the HIV epidemic and the communities affected by it. Early initiatives at CHRP pioneered what would become enduring cornerstones of HIV science: isolation of the virus; efficacy and toxicities of the first HIV treatments; the emergence of drug resistance; the first biospecimen banks for HIV-related research; the first community-based laboratory service for HIV diagnostic serology; and the first longitudinal case-control study of progression from HIV to AIDS-The San Francisco General Hospital Cohort. More recently, CHRP-funded conceptual studies of zinc-finger nuclease-mediated disruption of CCR5 genomic sequences and the safety of solid organ transplantation for HIV-positive patients have progressed from brilliant ideas to clinical realities, and CHRP is currently funding the first multisite trial of HIV preexposure prophylaxis for transgender persons in the United States. The present article outlines the founding of CHRP, our current grantmaking process, and our impact on HIV research over time. In 2013, CHRP launched a new initiative aimed at moving the then nascent frontier of HIV cure science forward: the CHRP HIV Cure Initiative provided over $1.4 million to multiple basic biomedical research projects, and selected results are presented in this Special Issue.
