Kanipakam S.

Science
Significance to Society

HIV Research: Its Significance and Benefit to Society

Please explain why your submission qualifies as a significant piece of work, as defined by at
least one of the following criteria:
exceptional creativity
a new idea with high impact and/or broad implications
an innovative solution with regional, state and/or national implications
an important advancement that can be replicated and built upon
an prominent discovery with the potential to effect positive change
a prodigious performance
Also, please explain how your work may make a positive contribution to society or has social
relevance.

NextGeneration Sequencing to Characterize Near Full Length Human Immunodeficiency virus

(HIV-1) Subtypes Evolving Within Infected Host

This work has utilized an acute, current technology known as NextGeneration

Sequencing; NextGeneration is a machine that pools all the samples together and sequences all

the viruses together, to detect which sequence identifies with the specific virus. By using this

machine, there is no need to have prior knowledge about the virus. Although there are specific

tests to find the genome, many have the pre-requisite of knowing what the virus is. During this

work, the researcher first characterized a known patients viral genome in order to confirm the

genotype. Using same technology, the researcher intends to characterize a viral genome and

identify an unknown genotype. The researcher attempts to do this by using a new approach,

which is known as the blast search approach. Based on the nucleotides, blast it and use a

reference database to identify the specific subtype. A total of 88 different strains of HIV are

currently circulating. It is important to identify, out of 88 strains, which strain/genome which

strain is prevalent in patients for better diagnosis and treatment options. In addition, finding the
genotype of infected HIV patients can help acquire and target new drugs and vaccines

engineered to a specific genotype, such as F2 or the recombinant form F2/CRF02. My work

serves as a new idea with high impact, as it can result in better treatment options for HIV

patients; the study includes an important advancement/finding that, if utilized, can change the

current perspective on antiretroviral drugs and HIV treatment. Although there are HIV drugs and

vaccines already in the market, the study conducted proves that by using a HIV infected patients

subtype in order to customize a drug or vaccine, it will be an effective treatment option and can

replace the current anti-retroviral drugs in the market, due to the new and enhanced treatments

effectiveness and proficiency.