Our research and innovation
Clinical research at the Children's Hospital AIDS Program (CHAP) at Boston Children's Hospital offers immense promise for improving the quality of life for children with HIV/AIDS. Our research efforts include:
- Simplifying medication. Complex medication regimens often result in patients, especially teens, not following their regimen. Our researchers are studying once-a-day and combination therapies to simplify treatment.
- Assessing drug interactions. We are working to determine the impact of combining strong anti-viral therapy with medications to treat depression or a co-infection, such as tuberculosis, to make sure drugs continue to be effective when combined.
- Preventing infections. Our research team is conducting a national study exploring the effectiveness of flu vaccines. These vaccines are important in the care of children with injured immune systems, such as HIV-positive patients.
- Peer counseling. We are studying how teen peer groups can encourage adolescents to follow their medication regimen.
Our international research focuses on preventing transmission, designing pediatric anti-viral treatments, vaccine testing, and preventing tuberculosis in children with HIV.
Fighting HIV with fat?
Daniel Kohane, MD, PhD, director of the Laboratory for Biomaterials and Drug Delivery at Boston Children’s, reports research results suggesting liposomes, which are fat covered cells, that look like cell membranes, and may decoy HIV to attach to them, instead of other tissues in the body.
