Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

The Division of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (DAIDS) is a division of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases which is part of the National Institutes of Health. It was formed in 1986 as a part of the initiative to address the national research needs created by the advent and spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Specifically, the Division’s mission is to increase basic knowledge of the pathogenesis, natural history, and transmission of HIV disease and to support research that promotes progress in its detection, treatment, and prevention. DAIDS accomplishes this through planning, implementing, managing, and evaluating programs in (1) fundamental basic research, (2) discovery and development of therapies for HIV infection and its complications, and (3) discovery and development of vaccines and other prevention strategies.

HIV pathogenesis research increases our understanding of the biology of HIV by studying the virus' life cycle, virus-host interactions, and mechanisms of disease progression and transmission. HIV pathogenesis research also supports studies of how the immune system responds to the virus. Knowledge gained from these studies enhances the ability of researchers to create new agents and vaccines to combat HIV infection.

The Division supports a large portfolio of investigator-initiated grants that are pursuing research focused on, but not limited to, the following areas: mechanisms of viral entry and infection, including the role of co-receptors and other cellular accessory molecules; the structure, function, and mechanism of action of viral genes and proteins; development of in vitro and ex vivo assays to monitor virus growth and immune responses against HIV, and animal models for research on the regulation and function of viral proteins and genetic regulatory sequences; the immunological and virological events controlling primary infection; factors affecting latent reservoirs of HIV; and host factors that modulate viral infection and/or disease progression.

The Division's basic research efforts have yielded significant scientific information about HIV. For example, in recent years, DAIDS-funded investigators have identified new structures for viral components of HIV, additional chemokine co-receptors, and the existence of multiple, persistent HIV reservoirs even with the use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). Despite these advances, questions still remain about the molecular interactions involved in the regulation of HIV expression and replication. More information is also needed about how the virus evades the immune system in order to identify additional targets against which therapeutic interventions and vaccines can be directed.

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