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UMD Researcher Receives $3.75M to Study Deadly Complication in HIV/AIDS Medications

Professor Meiqing Shi will Investigate the Cellular Mechanisms Behind Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS)

April 21, 2026

HIV virions budding from a CD4+ T-Cell.

Despite the wonders of anti-retroviral therapy (ART), which has changed an HIV /AIDS diagnosis from a likely death sentence to a manageable chronic condition for millions of patients, complications of the medication can pose serious risks, including a type of deadly brain inflammation known as immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS).