Dear reader.

On December 5, 2002, The Center for AIDS hosted the second Basic Science Workshop on HIV. The meeting was cosponsored by the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) unit at Baylor College of Medicine and held at The Woodlands Resort and Conference Center just outside of Houston. Approximately 40 people attended the day-long meeting, which featured a series of slide presentations, an activism roundtable discussion, and a keynote address by Sandra Bridges, PhD, from the National Institutes of Health. The theme of the meeting was novel therapeutic interventions.

The purpose of the Basic Science Workshop is to bring together researchers from Houston and around the nation to present their work, to discuss new ideas with their peers, and possibly to forge new collaborations. So why would a small, nonprofit, community-based organization like The Center for AIDS host a meeting of bench researchers? The reason is, quite simply, that only in research will we find a cure for HIV/AIDS. Almost everything that we know about HIV, from its shape to its lifecycle to its genetic composition, has been the result of basic science research. The therapies currently used to treat HIV disease have their origins in basic science exploration. Furthermore, HIV research has contributed a great deal to what we know about the human immune system and even some other diseases such as cancer. The Center for AIDS is committed to the search for a cure and recognizes that basic science research will continue to play a pivotal role in that search. By inviting researchers to present, to question, to ponder, and to interact meaningfully, The Center for AIDS works with the basic science community as a partner.

This issue of RITA! covers the 2002 Basic Science Workshop in an effort to share this unique event with readers. Each presentation summary offers a glimpse at an exciting, cutting-edge area of HIV therapeutics or vaccine research. The stories of the science of HIV research seem so different, as if worlds apart. Yet there truly is only one story, one that we will know by heart like the story of penicillin and the birth of antibiotics--when a cure for HIV/AIDS is found.

Many people continue to believe that a cure will come from a pharmaceutical company. Though such companies invest their fair share in research and development, a cure for HIV is just as likely to be discovered in a small laboratory at some academic, private, or government research institution. In truth, the pieces of this puzzle may come together from several areas. Nevertheless, we must advocate for and encourage all basic science research efforts. This is a challenge that The Center for AIDS enthusiastically accepts.

Finally, you may have heard that the Founding Director of The Center for AIDS, Joel Martinez, has stepped down as director and will pursue advocacy efforts as the organization's Director of Advocacy. I have agreed to serve as Interim Director, in addition to my work as editor, while the Board of Directors finalizes succession planning. It is an honor to run The Center for AIDS, and I hope I can do even half as good a job as Joel has done over the past 9 years. Also, I would like to welcome Jennifer Newcomb Fernandez, PhD, as a new contributor to The Center for AIDS publications. Jennifer is an accomplished writer and editor, as well as a member of the American Medical Writers Association. She will be a great addition to The Center for AIDS team.

Very truly yours,

The Center for AIDS:

Hope & Remembrance Project

Thomas Gegeny, MS, ELS

Interim Director & Editor