Wellcome fellowships for three

The Wellcome Trust has announced the award of three new Wellcome Trust Fellowships to researchers at UCT's Institute of Infectious Diseases and Molecular Medicine.

	Dr Wendy Burgers has been awarded an Intermediate Fellowship in Public Health and Tropical Medicine to continue her ground-breaking research on immunity to HIV-1 infection, with the sponsorship of Professor Carolyn Williamson. Burgers' proposed work seeks to understand why and how the immune system becomes so 'hyperactivated' in HIV-infected people, which is central to how HIV causes AIDS. Understanding the pathways and molecules causing immune activation may lead to new therapies to treat HIV infection.
	Dr Hanif Esmail was awarded a Research Training Fellowship in Clinical Science that will investigate inactive tuberculosis, under the sponsorship and supervision of Professor Douglas Young at the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) in the UK, Dr Clifton Barry III at the National Institute of Health in the US and Professor Robert J Wilkinson at UCT.
	Shepherd Nhamoyebonde has been awarded a Master's Fellowship to research vitamin D and HIV-associated tuberculosis in South Africa under the sponsorship and supervision of Dr Adrian Martineau at the NIMR, Dr Katalin A Wilkinson and Prof Robert J Wilkinson, both at UCT.

Based in the UK, The Wellcome Trust supports many different kinds of research and activities around the world, with the ultimate aim of protecting and improving human and animal health.