Back to the Drawing Board

Experts attending a recent global conference on HIV vaccine research have reached a disheartening conclusion based on the recent string of failures of once-highly touted vaccine candidates. Researchers need to go back to square one: basic science research. Even after nearly three decades of scientific studies, 'we don't understand enough about the human immune system, and we don't know how the immune system deals with HIV,' Lynn Morris, cochair of the conference, told Reuters. But, she warns, 'there's no guarantee that [even] basic science researchers are going to come up with the answers.'