UCLA PALM SPRINGS SYMPOSIUM 2008
The 2008 Palm Springs symposium on HIV/AIDS, "Novel Therapeutic Targets" is scheduled for March 6-9, 2009. This is the fourteenth in an annual series of relatively small conferences organized by the UCLA AIDS Institute and the UC Irvine Cancer Research Institute. The aim of this conference is to provide the latest information and to facilitate discussion between researchers both in HIV/AIDS and in related disciplines. The conference is underwritten by a generous grant from the DAIDS/NIAID division of the National Institutes of Health.

AIDS IN AFRICA
In the past twenty years AIDS has claimed tens of millions of African lives, left millions of orphans in its wake, depopulated villages, destroyed the social infrastructure of communities, and destabilized economies across the continent.

CHALLENGES IN MICROBICIDE DEVELOPMENT
Even the most optimistic projections suggest that we are a decade or more away from having a sterilizing HIV vaccine. Microbicide research, by contrast, may yield one or more marketable products within the next five years, although bringing these products to market will require a huge logistical undertaking and studies involving tens of thousands of women, most of them in sub-Saharan Africa.

TOUGH DECISIONS MADE EASIER
This one-day symposium, which was underwritten in part by unrestricted educational grants from a dozen pharmaceutical companies, was designed to provide participants with relevant, reliable, up-to-the-minute information on the clinical management of HIV-infected patients who have failed one or more antiretroviral regimens, or who have demonstrated some degree of resistance to one or more antiretroviral agents or classes of agents.