DAVID TAFFET | Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

UT Southwestern’s Dr. Mamta Jain will be at ilume on May 18 to give a presentation on the necessity for an HIV vaccine.

Jain is heading a clinical trial of a vaccine that may help researchers understand how the immune system may prevent HIV. They are trying to understand why some people who are HIV-positive develop AIDS while others do not.

The study began last September but participants for the trial are still needed.

Jain said that participants cannot contract HIV from the vaccine.

“The vaccine is composed of man-made proteins that are found in HIV, not the HIV virus itself,” Jain said. “The vaccine cannot cause infection.”

Participants will receive three shots of either the vaccine or a placebo plus a booster shot in the first six months. Then they will return every three months for an HIV test, interview and risk-reduction counseling.

The study runs for three years.

Investigators are looking for gay men or transgender women who have sex with men who are between the ages of 18 and 5o and are HIV-negative. Testing to qualify would be done at UT Southwestern.

Jain will speak in the Great Room and Champagne Lounge at ilume, 4123 Cedar Springs Road on May 18 at 5-7 p.m. Free.