The grant provided by the Cosmos Club Foundation supported my work examining a cellular signaling pathway in the context of HIV neurotoxicity. Despite the advent of life-saving antiretroviral drugs, up to half of all HIV-infected individuals still experience some form of neurocognitive deficits. Inflammation is thought to promote neurocognitive deficits; however, the molecular mechanisms underlying these deficits remain poorly understood. My investigations consisted of screening pharmacological inhibitors in order to identify pathological inflammatory signaling pathways. This work led to the identification of a particular receptor’s involvement in the recruitment of inflammatory immune cells to the brain. This work is important in that it identified a receptor as a possible new therapeutic target in the treatment of HIV neuroinflammation.
