This week researchers are meeting in Seattle to discuss the 33 vaccine trials happening right now on every continent. The recent revelation that for every one person treated, six new people get infected has redirected crucial attention to the race for an HIV vaccine.

From an editorial in the Seattle Times:

“Treating those infected with HIV or who have full-blown AIDS is critical. But no one should forget that there is no way out of the AIDS epidemic without a vaccine.

Seattle has become a gateway for such efforts. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation last year put $287 million behind the collaborative efforts of 165 scientists from 19 countries. Long-term grants and improved funding from nonprofit organizations and the federal government have attracted more scientists, including younger ones, to the vaccine search.”

For more about the hunt for a vaccine, check out the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise and the WHO-UNAIDS Vaccine Initiative.