Thanks to a $100,000 grant from the Campbell Foundation, researchers in Israel can continue developing a method to deliver the HIV med tenofovir through the blood-brain barrier, according to a Campbell Foundation press release.

HIV meds need to cross the blood-brain barrier if they are to fight viral reservoirs in the central nervous system and brain as well as alleviate HIV-related neurological issues. These symptoms include dementia and neuropathy in addition to psychological conditions such as depression.

Eliahu Heldman, PhD, and a team from New York–based biotech company Lauren Sciences are working together at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Israel to use what’s called V-Smart technology to deliver tenofovir through the blood-brain barrier in humanized mice (that is, mice with human cells, tissue and, in some cases, organs).

The researchers received a previous Campbell Foundation grant for an earlier stage of this project. The new grant will help them test the efficacy of tenofovir delivered with the V-Smart technology.

“The challenge associated with the delivery of HIV drugs through the blood-brain barrier represents a critical unmet need in the field of AIDS,” said Campbell Foundation program director Ken Rapkin in the release.

Since 1995, the Campbell Foundation has supported nonprofit groups doing clinical and laboratory-based research on treating and preventing HIV.