A Ride to Save Lives

Bicyclists to Pedal From N.Y. to D.C. to Benefit GMU Professor's AIDS Research

Yuntao Wu of Manassas is trading his white lab coat for biking gear Thursday to begin a 330-mile trip meant to raise money for his AIDS research.

Although this is the second NYCDC AIDS Ride, which was founded to raise money for the George Mason University professor and researcher, it will be the first time Wu cycles alongside the roughly 50 others who are riding from New York City to Washington to support his efforts.

"I've been training for this all summer," Wu said. He saw how hard the riders worked last year, he said, "and all their efforts were spent to help our research. . . . I told the riders that we are together with a common goal to fight the disease. We are a family and a team, so this year I decided to join them."

Wu began studying AIDS nearly a decade ago, beginning his work with the National Institutes of Health, then moving his lab in 2003 to GMU's Prince William County campus.

During a six-year study, Wu and his team discovered a mechanism of how HIV attacks helper T cells, a type of immune cells, he said. That mechanism permits the virus to invade and penetrate a skeletal barrier inside the cell, establish an infection and kill the cell. Loss of helper T cells eventually causes AIDS.

Wu said his next goal is to find something that will stop the virus from penetrating the barrier. The $150,000 Wu expects to get from the ride will cover his research for almost a year, but it can take a decade or more to find, test and get a drug on the market that will suppress AIDS, he said.

"Research is difficult and you struggle, testing your hypothesis and solving problems," Wu said, adding that he has a four-year, $1.2 million NIH grant. "A lot of times your hypothesis is wrong . . . but you keep testing, and once [something] works, well, you have a big discovery."

Wu, who has a doctorate in virology from Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, began his research work studying a group of viruses that were killing insects. But after four years, he said, he wanted to switch to studying a virus that had a more direct impact on humans: AIDS.

"I wanted to study some virus where I could help people right away," said Wu, 45. "AIDS is a big thing; it's very scary, and I wanted to be able to help."

According to the latest statistics from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, 33 million people around the world had HIV in 2007.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that in 2007, almost 470,000 people in the United States had AIDS and about 14,500 died that year from the disease.

Marty Rosen, coordinator and founder of this week's ride, said several participants are HIV positive. This race gives Wu a chance, she said, to meet the people he is trying to help.

"It's really moving and extraordinary for Dr. Wu and his team to get to know the people and put a name and a story to the people he helps," said Rosen, who lives just outside New York City. "There's also nothing like having a guy who gets calls from [science and research] journals from around the world ride with you and make your PBJ at lunch."

This year's ride, which has twice as many participants as last year's, will start Thursday near Wall Street. Riders will cycle through New Jersey, Delaware and Maryland before arriving in Washington next Sunday. Riders each pay a $100 registration fee and are asked to raise $2,500 to participate.

Rosen, a former reporter who covered health policy, said she founded the race last year after learning about Wu's research efforts. She said what interested her is the fact Wu goes "back to the basics of science" to try to find a way to fight the disease.

"He's taken research in a very different direction and is looking at the virus in an entirely new way," she said. "There's been a lot of buzz about the research he is doing, and people say he is going to turn AIDS research on its head. . . . This guy is a superstar, so it's really been a great experience" to work with him on the ride.