Two Indian-American professors, Venigalla Rao and Sunil Suhas Solomon, were chosen as two of the three recipients of the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) 2024 Avant-Garde Award, which was announced on June 17, 2024.
The NIDA Avant-Garde Program for HIV and Substance Use Disorder Research “is part of the Director’s Pioneer Award mechanism at NIDA that supports investigators with exceptional creativity proposing high impact research projects that will open new areas of HIV/AIDS research relevant to Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and leads to novel avenues for prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS among People Who Use Drugs (PWUD)” according to the NIH website.
Dr. Rao is a professor of Biology and the founding director of the Bacteriophage Medical Research Center at The Catholic University of America. He earned his Doctorate in Biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science. He subsequently conducted his post-doctoral research focused on Bacteriophage T4 Assembly and Genome Packaging, at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
“He conducted seminal research to tease out the mechanisms of viral DNA packaging and established a multidisciplinary research program to translate basic knowledge into vaccines and gene therapies against HIV, other infectious diseases, and genetic diseases. Of particular significance is his current research to create curative technologies interfacing bacteriophages with human cells,” noted the website.
Dr. Rao has received several research awards from the NIH and the National Science Foundation and holds intellectual property rights for 24 U.S. and international patents. He has also been recognized as a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the National Academy of Inventors.
Dr. Rao’s project “Engineering Bacteriophage T4 as a Targeted Gene Therapy Drug for In Vivo HIV Cure” will focus on identifying a class of in vivo treatments capable to curing HIV, potentially revolutionizing health outcomes for around 39 million people worldwide living with the virus. Additionally, it seeks to safeguard the health of substance users who are disproportionately impacted by HIV.
“Using a novel large-capacity bacteriophage T4 artificial viral vector technology, Dr. Rao’s laboratory will program nanoparticles with a payload of genome editing molecules to target hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in vivo and introduce a Δ32 deletion mutation into CCR5, a gene that can act as an HIV co-receptor,” the website added. “The aim is for the genetically modified HSCs to then differentiate and repopulate the body with HIV-resistant cells, including CD4+ T cells. These cells would replace the existing HIV reservoir, resulting in a functional HIV cure.”
Dr. Sunil Suhas Solomon
Dr. Solomon is a Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He received his medical training in India and holds an MPH and a PhD in Epidemiology from Johns Hopkins. His research aims to enhance access to HIV and viral hepatitis prevention and treatment services for vulnerable populations. He is recognized for his work with an Avenir award (DP2) from NIDA.
Dr. Solomon’s project, titled “Long-Acting Injectables for Treatment of HIV Among PWID (LIFT HIV)” aims to investigate the reasons behind the underutilization of Long-Acting Antiretroviral Treatment (LA-ART) among People Who Inject Drugs (PWID).
Despite its potential to transform HIV service delivery, there is a lack of data on the utilization of these treatments among PWID, particularly those from the low- and middle-income countries. In these settings, achieving viral suppression among PWID is notably lower compared to their counterparts in high-income countries.
“The objective of this project is to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of LA-ART via ethnography, estimate the efficacy and safety of LA-ART versus oral ART among previously unsuppressed PWID via a clinical trial, and model the cost-effectiveness of LA-ART among PWID populations using agent-based modeling that incorporates costs,” added the website.
