A paper on American AIDS policy, co-authored by College of Engineering Professor Manu Platt, has been accepted for publication in the Journal of the International AIDS Society.

Platt, a professor in the Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, worked on this paper with his brother Matthew Platt, an assistant professor in the Government Department at Harvard University. Their paper is called "From GRID to Gridlock: The Relationship between Biomedical Breakthrough and HIV/AIDS Policy in the U.S. Congress." It examines how science discoveries have impacted congressional response to HIV and AIDS from 1981 to 2010.

They studied every bill introduced, hearing held, and law passed by Congress relating to HIV and AIDS and compared this information with the most impactful biomedical research publications. They found that the breakthroughs in science correlated with the number and types of HIV/AIDS bills introduced in Congress, but did not impact the passage of laws, according to the abstract of the paper.  

Manu Platt became interested in this topic when he attended a conference about the discriminatory laws Congress passed on HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, but stayed on the books for many years. Since Matthew Platt studies how bills are presented in Congress, they decided to complete the study and paper together.

JIAS selects submissions on HIV-related topics from across all scientific disciplines that provide information on advances that have been made for monitoring and providing support for affordable and sustainable treatment, prevention and care programs, according to the JIAS website.

Platt’s research at the College of Engineering focuses on tissue remodeling in arteries due to sickle cell disease or HIV infection, roles of proteases in tumor metastasis, and bone-marrow-derived cell based therapies.