New insights into HIV-1 vaccine design

Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory have created a computational model that could change the way that researchers look at possibilities for an HIV-1 vaccine.

“An effective HIV-1 vaccine has proven elusive, partly due to the difficulty of causing an immune response that can neutralize the diverse viral strains circulating in the human population,” said Alan Perelson, of Los Alamos’ Theoretical Biology and Biophysics Group. “Harnessing the power of broadly neutralizing antibodies, which emerge years into a chronic HIV infection, could help overcome this challenge.”

Shishi Luo and Perelson, published their findings in the paper “Competitive exclusion by autologous antibodies can prevent broad HIV-1 antibodies from arising.”

Linking Two Brains for a Game

What if you knew what someone was saying without them opening their mouth?

Located in different buildings on the Univ. of Washington’s campus, approximately one mile apart, two human test subjects sat in front screens. Over the Internet, they played a game akin to 20 questions, but no oral communication was involved. Instead, the inquirer selected questions from the screen. Respondents, outfitted in an electroencephalography cap, answered the yes or no question by fixing their eyes on flashing LED lights situated on the sides of the monitor. Transmitted back to the inquirer, the answer activated a magnetic coil situated behind the inquirer’s head, stimulating the visual cortex. The intensity of the burst of light, known as a phosphene, indicated whether the respondent’s answer was yes or no.