The Lentivirus Training Grant is designed to prepare pre-doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows for interdisciplinary research careers in the molecular pathogenesis of viral induced CNS disease. The particular emphasis is in animal models of AIDS dementia/encephalitis and in humans infected with HIV who develop AIDS and AIDS Dementia. Post-doctoral fellows with backgrounds in medicine, veterinary medicine and basic sciences are provided with training opportunities in laboratories with multidisciplinary approaches to pursue research in the molecular, cellular and pathological basis for virus induced neurological disease. The program includes both established and junior faculty involved in all these interdisciplinary areas and provide a rich environment for training, and career development. There is a great deal of collaboration and interaction among the training faculty that provides an integrated training experience. All the investigators are funded on NIH grants and the areas of research include: HIV/SIV latency in the periphery and in the CNS, the mechanisms of HIV/SIV entry into the CNS, the role of specific signaling pathways in virus replication, particularly in CNS cells, role of the blood brain barrier and adhesion molecules in trafficking of lymphocytes and monocytes into the CNS, the role of inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in trafficking and disease, the role of neurovirulent viruses in the development of CNS disease, the role of cellmediated immune responses in the CNS and the identification of cellular and viral factors that predict the development of CNS disease. Pre-doctoral students are recruited from existing graduate programs at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Postdoctoral fellows are recruited both internally with the Department of Neurology and externally nationwide from peer institutions. Minority recruitment has been an active part of this program, two faculty are minorities and we have had a good record of recruiting both pre-doctoral students and post-doctoral fellows. An important aspect of our program is participation/support of minority undergraduate summer students as part of the School of Medicine Minority Undergraduate Summer Program. This serves as a pipeline for the graduate programs at the School of Medicine. All trainees participate actively in productive research projects and receive intense mentoring by the training faculty.
