Canadian Scientist Dr. Frank Plummer makes ground-breaking progress in fight against AIDS on The Gene Hunters, airing March 27 on Discovery

Montreal, March 21, 2001: Ground-breaking research by a Winnipeg scientist that could result in the development of a vaccine against AIDS is featured in the television series The Gene Hunters, airing March 27 at 9 pm E.T. on the Discovery Channel.

This episode of The Gene Hunters series highlights the research Dr. Frank Plummer and his colleagues have been conducting on prostitutes in Nairobi for fifteen years, since they discovered that some of the women, despite repeated exposure to HIV, remain immune.

Dr. Plummer, the Scientific Director of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, believes the secret of the women’s HIV immunity lies in their genes and he hopes the extraordinary genetic make-up of the Nairobi prostitutes will help in the development of an AIDS vaccine.

“Launching the trials in Nairobi is a significant milestone in what we hope will be the development of a vaccine against AIDS,” says Dr. Plummer. “I’m hopeful that our work will result in a vaccine that’s ready for use in the next ten years.”

“The Gene Hunters showcases Dr. Plummer’s extraordinary work in developing what could be prove to be a vaccine against AIDS,” says David York, producer of The Gene Hunters. “It’s exciting for us to get the word out on such an important issue.”

Plummer is trying to identify a genetic cause for HIV resistance in the Nairobi women. Killer T-cells seem to be at the heart of their protection and Dr. Plummer is trying to determine how and why the Nairobi prostitutes have developed these cells.

Plummer and his team are working to find ways to stimulate the immune systems of others to help them create their own killer T-cells.

Through collaboration with Professor Andrew McMichael, a leading AIDS researcher at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England, they have been able to launch important clinical trials of an HIV vaccine in Nairobi.

The Gene Hunters series, produced by Cineflix and Café Productions, goes to a new location each week to reveal a fascinating story in which scientists are using gene technology to solve a difficult puzzle.