How has AIDS research helped other sciences?

How has AIDS research helped other sciences?

I like to think of it in this way, that AIDS did have - to use the hackneyed expression - a silver lining on the dark cloud. The silver lining is in two ways some good came out of AIDS. Certainly for science some good came out of AIDS that was original in AIDS; basic immunology for sure; infectious disease for sure; molecular biology. Of all things we never expected that new molecular mechanisms never known before came out of HIV research. We have been surprised. I think, it has given some impetus to the role of viruses and human cancer also because of HIV by promoting the greater reproduction of other viruses that can cause tumours has led to certain kinds of tumours becoming more common. So even in cancer research AIDS leads the pack for anti-viral therapy. It is shown that you can treat anti-viral diseases. We didn't have treatment for anti-viral diseases. Now we have the pharmaceutical industry with a much more open mind to treat other viral diseases. With other viruses we had prevention by vaccine or nothing. Now you have no viruses. If you understand enough about them you can target them. So that is a spin off. I think it has given a new breath to the intensification of vaccine research also.