We became the first government to back the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative last year and are committed to tackling AIDS globally. I am confident that the MRC Human Immunology Unit marks a significant step forward in the continuing battle against AIDS and other diseases. The unit was established by the MRC with funding of 6 million over five years under the directorship of Professor Andrew McMichael. It will unite research groups and their projects across different disciplines in immunology, to create a single, dynamic entity. As well as a commitment to training clinical and non-clinical scientists, the initial focus of the new Unit will be to investigate many aspects of the human immune response and its role in disease processes.
Infectious diseases are a public health concern world-wide.
A Unit such as this is therefore vital for an overall approach to understanding immunity. One of the Unit's major projects is a collaborative effort with scientists in Kenya to develop a DNA vaccine against HIV, this is partly funded through a grant to Professor McMichael from the International Aids Vaccine Initiative to which the Department for International Development recently contributed 14 million. The teams in Oxford and Nairobi meet regularly to discuss progress and Dr Bwayo from the University of Nairobi, who is leading the Kenyan arm of the project has flown in especially to mark the occasion of the opening. The more we understand how the immune response works the better our chance of manipulating it to improve world health. Photographs of Professor McMichael are available.