Skip to main content

Stem Cells and Gene Therapy

Stem Cells and Gene Therapy Researchers take a second look at using stem cells to treat HIV By Bob Grant Related Articles 5 HIV Treatment Strategies A piggyback attack: Using the common cold to deliver an HIV vaccine The best offense? CCR5 inhibitors, with one now on the market, suggest it may be a good defense Solving the viral spike: Can structural biology find a chink in HIV's armor? Reconstructing early HIV: The search for immunogens d

Written byBob Grant
| 3 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
3:00

By Bob Grant

5 HIV Treatment Strategies

A piggyback attack: Using the common cold to deliver an HIV vaccine

The best offense? CCR5 inhibitors, with one now on the market, suggest it may be a good defense

Solving the viral spike: Can structural biology find a chink in HIV's armor?

Reconstructing early HIV: The search for immunogens delves into the virus' past

Profile: A Receptive Leader: Panacos' Graham Allaway

PODCAST: Andrea Gawrylewski interviews NIAID director Anthony Fauci, who gives his take on HIV research priorities.

Stem cells enjoyed a short run as potential gene therapy vehicles in the 1990s. Most approaches suffered, however, from low expression levels and low transduction efficiencies in target cells. Though researchers had developed a rich array of anti-HIV genes, including antisense and virion fusion inhibitors, RNA decoys, and short hairpin RNAs, their in vitro effectiveness did not translate into significant therapeutic effects in patients.

Today, ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to digital editions of The Scientist, as well as TS Digest, feature stories, more than 35 years of archives, and much more!
Already a member?
Add The Scientist as a preferred source on Google

Add The Scientist as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.

Meet the Author

  • From 2017 to 2022, Bob Grant was Editor in Chief of The Scientist, where he started in 2007 as a Staff Writer. Before joining the team, he worked as a reporter at Audubon and earned a master’s degree in science journalism from New York University. In his previous life, he pursued a career in science, getting a bachelor’s degree in wildlife biology from Montana State University and a master’s degree in marine biology from the College of Charleston in South Carolina. Bob edited Reading Frames and other sections of the magazine.

    View Full Profile

Published In

Related articles background image
The Scientist Digest cover September 2026
September 2026

Multiplex Microscopy Becomes Easier with Encoded Antibodies

A new system that enables researchers to uniquely tag monoclonal antibodies for use in microscopy could help simplify complex imaging studies.

View this Issue
Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

Essential Genes Are Dominantly Activated by Single Transcription Factors

EpiCypher Logo
Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Alamar Biosciences logo
Engineering CAR-Neutrophils In Vivo to Target Glioblastoma

Engineering CAR-Neutrophils In Vivo to Target Glioblastoma

Miltenyi
Best Practices for qPCR Assay Design and Optimization

Best Practices for qPCR Assay Design and Optimization

Bio-Rad

Products

Closeup image of a multi channel pipette dispensing pink liquid into a 96-well plate.

The ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot for affordable workflow automation

Integra Logo
Single cells in suspension

Rapidly isolate primary cells and make uniform single-cell suspensions with Corning® Cell Strainers

Corning logo
Abstract image representing cell membranes linked together.

CellBrite® Steady Membrane Stain: Cell surface staining built for real-time imaging

Biotium
sino biological logo

Monod Bio Licenses AI-designed Protein Technologies to SignalChem Biotech for Custom Discovery Assays