Hundreds of thousands of molecules join together to form a new HIV particle in just five minutes, according to new research conducted—and visually recorded—by a team of scientists at Rockefeller University in New York. According toScience Daily, summarizing a report in a May 25 online issue of the journal Nature, this is the first time scientists have visually recorded what they say is the “birth” of new HIV inside a human cell.
Though researchers have developed a fairly clear understanding of how new HIV particles are assembled and released from CD4 cells, no one had ever visually documented this process.
Rockefeller researchers Nolwenn Jovenet, Paul Bieniasz and Sanford Simon used an imaging technique called total internal reflection microscopy to illuminate the surface of CD4 cells where HIV assembles. This allowed the researchers to see various viral molecules coming together to form a single HIV virion, over a period of five to six minutes.
The team’s recording of the cell assembly process gives scientists a new tool to investigate theories about viral assembly and, according to Science Daily, may also prove useful in developing new HIV treatments.
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Beth Benne, RN, is HIV negative, but
the virus has impacted her life. She currently supervises a biannual HIV/AIDS awareness week as
the director of the student health center at Pierce College, a
community commuter school in Woodland Hills, California.
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Overheard in the Women's Forum
"I recently met a guy who is negative. I did tell him about my status and he decided to kiss me anyway (we didn't go further than that). But a day later, he called and said that he actually had a mouth ulcer that time when we kissed and he was very worried. Asked if he can get the virus from me that way. For that moment, I felt so insulted and yet I felt so bad. It was my first time having a contact with a "negative" guy."
