The Gaia Foundation 2007 Woman in Science Award
Honoree: Candace Pert. Ph.D.

HIV/AIDS VACCINE BREAKTHROUGH

This year Dr. Pert announced at a Press Conference held here in the Antelope Valley that she, along with her partner Dr. Michael Ruff, had not only neutralized the HIV-Aids virus in their own lab, but that similar results were found when they sent their rabbit antibodies to the National Instituted of Health (NIH). The vaccine is currently undergoing monkey trials at the NIH, a prerequisite to human testing.

Dr. Candace Pert is an internationally recognized pharmacologist who has published over 250 scientific articles on peptides and their receptors and the role of these neuropeptides in the immune system. Dr. Candace Pert received her Ph.D. in pharmacology from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, served as Chief of the Section on Brain Biochemistry of the Clinical Neuroscience Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), held a Research Professorship in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC, and is currently the Scientific Director of RAPID Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

In the mid-1980’s, while researching the function of classical immune cell receptors, such as CD4, in brain, Dr. Pert, with her collaborator Dr. Michael Ruff, developed the first of a new class of treatments for HIV/AIDS, the viral entry inhibitor Peptide T. This non-toxic experimental therapeutic blocks the virus from binding to its cellular chemokine receptor CCR5 and infecting the cell. Recent human studies show that Peptide T substantially reduces HIV in the blood and the treatment resistant, persistently infected cellular reservoirs which do not respond to current therapies.

Dr. Pert holds a number of patents for modified peptides in the treatment of psoriasis, Alzheimer's disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, stroke and head trauma. One of these, peptide T, is currently undergoing research, in the United States, for the treatment of AIDS and neuroAIDS. More information about Peptide T can be found at http://www.tinm.org/.

Also, at the NIH and in the private sector, Dr. Candace Pert's over 25 years interest and research into neuropeptide receptors in the brain and later, the immune system provided a biochemical basis for interdependent communication between mind and body and contributed to the emergence of the field of psychoneuroimmunology. She has an international reputation in the field of neuropeptide and receptor pharmacology and has also lectured worldwide on these and other subjects, including her theories on emotions and mindbody communication. Dr. Pert appeared in the feature film What the Bleep Do We Know!?? and Bill Moyer's TV program Healing and the Mind. She is the author of the book Molecules of Emotion: The Scientific Basis Behind Mind-Body Medicine (Scribner, 1997), Everything You Need to Know to Feel Go(o)d (Hay House, 2006), and the musical guided imagery CD Psychosomatic Wellness: Healing your Body-Mind.

The Antelope Valley Women’s Conference was honored to be the setting for filming Candace Pert for her part in the documentary Live Life the movie. Click this link to see the clips.

 

And purchase her books through Amazon.com with these links:

      

Visit the online store to get a CD of Candance Perts' presentation at the conference.
 

TESTIMONIAL:
"Most interesting: ...Candace Pert"
~Marion Bogan~