San Francisco: Blood Needed for HIV Immunology Studies
Persons who are HIV positive--preferable with CD4 count under 300, and no major active opportunistic infections--can contribute to research at the Herzenberg Immunology Laboratory at Stanford University by donating blood for testing. The blood draw (two large and two small tubes of blood) will take place in San Francisco. Some volunteers will be asked to return for a second blood draw.The blood will be used for some or all of the following research:
* The impact of glutathione depletion and oxidative stress on T-cell function, surface marker expression, viral load, and other aspects of HIV disease progression.
* Measuring the frequency of HIV-infected cells within naive, memory, activated, and other kinds of CD4 cells.
* Looking for defects in immune-system cells, by measuring the function of individual cells, classified according to their type. (Most research tests of cell function only measure the activity of mixtures of cells.)
* Studying CD8 cells which are specifically targeted to HIV.
* Using this information to understand the changes that occur in the immune system during progression of HIV disease.
For more information or to schedule an appointment, call Virginia (Virg) Parks, 415-522-2916 (message line).
