UCLA Wins Grant to Study Effects of AIDS

UCLA has been awarded a $5-million grant to set up a site for the National Neurological AIDS Bank to study how AIDS affects the brain and central nervous system.

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Strokes will distribute the $5 million to UCLA over five years.

The bank will provide AIDS-infected tissue samples to researchers around the nation as part of a national consortium of banks, including locations in San Diego, New York and Galveston, Texas.

“This represents the first opportunity to link important clinical data offered by people living with AIDS--such as lifestyle, antiviral drug use, health history and disease progression--with clues revealed by tissue samples after their deaths,” said Dr. Elyse Singer, principal investigator and chief neurologist for the UCLA Center for AIDS Research and Education.

Investigators from UCLA, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, county Department of Health Services and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center will collaborate on the project, which will be based the VA Medical Center in Westwood.

The National Neurological AIDS Bank seeks people 18 or older with advanced AIDS to participate in a clinical study monitoring the disease’s progression. Participants should live within 120 miles of UCLA’s Westwood campus.