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An engineering approach
to preventing HIV in women
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David
Katz (Ph.D. ’72 ME) says he grew up with a "heavy
dose of reproductive rights" from his mother, one factor
influencing his career interest in reproductive biology and
clinical obstetrics and gynecology.
JENNIFER PETERS PHOTO |
David Katz (Ph.D. ’72 ME) is leading a group of Duke University
biomedical engineers investigating topical microbicides that could
be administered intravaginally to prevent sexually transmitted
HIV infection in women.
Returning to Berkeley last fall to speak, Katz described his efforts
to find antiviral agents that would reach the right tissues, adhere
to them, and remain in place long enough to annihilate the virus.
The delivery system — the gel or cream that carries the
agent to its target — is as critical as the agent itself.
The Centers for Disease Control estimate that as many as 160,000
adult and adolescent women in the U.S. have AIDS-causing HIV infection,
most caused by heterosexual exposure to HIV. Ultimately, Katz
and his colleagues hope, women could apply such agents themselves
to prevent the spread of HIV.
"About 40 percent of topical medication failures result from
bad delivery systems rather than failure of the active ingredient,"
says Katz, who describes the project as a classic engineering
problem. He is the Nello L. Teer Jr. Professor of Biomedical Engineering
and a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Duke.
The research is being supported by a $2.3 million grant from the
National Institutes of Health, a $90,000 award from the American
Foundation for AIDS Research, and other funding agencies, including
the Food and Drug Administration.
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