Talk about a great way to start the week: Check out our round-up of the most important recent advances in health:
Never underestimate the power of young people: Canadian 11th grader Marshall Zhang has presented a groundbreaking science project at the 2011 Sanofi-Aventis Biotalent Challenge, a very advanced science fair that encourages students to share emerging scientific theories. Zhang used a computer system to suggest a new drug combination that could cure cystic fibrosis, a genetically inherited condition that causes potentially fatal thick, sticky mucus to build up on a person's lungs and other organs. Most people who suffer from the disease die during their teen years, but hopefully further testing of Zhang's proposal will allow people with cystic fibrosis to live longer.
Oregon Health & Science University has announced a major breakthrough that could lead to an HIV vaccine. Dr. Louis Picker and his team tested a vaccine on monkeys, then later gave the monkeys a version of HIV. Researchers detected that HIV did not appear present in half of the monkeys that received the vaccine.
"We know the animals got infected – we could find the virus in the body initially and then it would go away,” Picker said.
The breakthrough is a significant step in finding a way to stop HIV early on.
