HIV - Curing the Incurable | Daniel Aaron Donahue | TEDxTUM

HIV-positive individuals continue to face stigma and discrimination. For the 2 million people who are infected with HIV every year, this means a lifetime of treatment without a final cure, although methods for keeping the disease at bay do exist. The key to curing HIV is to kill the dormant virus in healthy cells. The two most promising strategies for a cure are using specific antibodies to kill cells with dormant HIV, and the usage of recently developed CRISPR to remove dormant HIV DNA without harming healthy cells. Aaron explains how scientists use these approaches to create a cure for HIV, and shows us how everyone else can help reduce the number of new HIV cases. Daniel Aaron Donahue is fascinated by viruses. Inspired by how scientific research can have an impact on improving the lives of millions, his PhD work and postdoctoral studies have focused on HIV cure approaches and understanding how HIV interacts with immune cells. Aaron is driven by a desire to uncover the details of how pathogens infect cells, using this knowledge in collaboration with his colleagues to test novel approaches to treat or cure human diseases. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx