LOS ALAMOS, N.M., Jan. 22, 2019—Los Alamos National Laboratory Fellow Bette Korber will discuss her work designing a vaccine against HIV (the virus that causes AIDS) in three Frontiers in Science public lectures beginning Jan. 31 in Los Alamos.
“Our immune system precisely targets and eliminates pathogens when we get an infection, and our immune cells have a remarkable capacity to ‘remember’ such an encounter, acquiring protection that can last a lifetime,” said computational biologist Korber, who was named as the 2018 Scientist of the Year by R&D magazine. “Vaccines work by tapping into this immunological memory. But what happens when the immune response faces a highly variable pathogen, such as HIV, which evolves so rapidly that virtually every infection is different?”
Titled “Toward a World Without AIDS: Developing a Vaccine Against HIV,” the talks will discuss Korber’s work on designing HIV vaccines that trigger an immune response that can “remember” and recognize a virus that is constantly changing. A vaccine she helped develop is currently undergoing clinical trials in southern Africa.
All Frontiers in Science presentations begin at 7 p.m. and are free of charge. The talks are:
- Thursday, Jan. 31 at Duane Smith Auditorium, 1300 Diamond Drive, Los Alamos
- Tuesday, Feb. 5 at the Jemez Rooms, Santa Fe Community College, 6401 Richards Avenue, Santa Fe
- Thursday, Feb. 7 at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801 Mountain Road NW, Albuquerque
Sponsored by the Fellows of Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Frontiers in Science lecture series is intended to increase local public awareness of the diversity of science and engineering research at the Laboratory.
For more information, call (505) 667-7251 or email David Moore.
About Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory, a multidisciplinary research institution engaged in strategic science on behalf of national security, is managed by Triad, a public service oriented, national security science organization equally owned by its three founding members: Battelle Memorial Institute (Battelle), the Texas A&M University System (TAMUS), and the Regents of the University of California (UC) for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration.
Los Alamos enhances national security by ensuring the safety and reliability of the U.S. nuclear stockpile, developing technologies to reduce threats from weapons of mass destruction, and solving problems related to energy, environment, infrastructure, health, and global security concerns.