HIV/SHIV: early work at UCD with Dr Murray Gardner (7/26/2018)

AIDS Virus Diagnostic Laboratory -- the history of a successful scientific journey into retrovirus detection and treatment with Dr Murray Gardner.  Another fascinating story from a retired professor and doctor from UCD.  Although he "retired" in 2000 at age 70, Murray continues to go in to the office every day and help out. Worth a listen!

(below is a blurb from the UCD's California National Primate Research Center)

Thirty years ago, the CNPRC was at the forefront of discovering the role of retroviruses as the causative agent for Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Dr. Murray Gardner, emeritus Professor of Pathology in the UC Davis School of Medicine, often refers to the CNPRC as the “home” of simian AIDS, as early isolates of retroviruses related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) were identified in colony animals and studied by researchers here.

The Pathogen Detection Laboratory (PDL) emerged from this early period of retrovirus discovery. In 1985, before there were commercial tests on the market, PDL originated as the AIDS Virus Diagnostic Laboratory (AVDL), founded to develop and provide one of the only testing facilities for the newly discovered public health threat – HIV. The laboratory began life by resurrecting an abandoned research building on the outskirts of campus, sandwiched between the railroad tracks and the cat barn. This new laboratory provided serology and culture results for researchers, blood banks, public health, reference and hospital laboratories, and private physicians across the country.