David M. Phillips is a senior scientist at the Population Council's Center for Biomedical Research; his expertise is in virology and reproductive biology. Over the last 17 years, Phillips's laboratory has conducted research on the sexual transmission of HIV that has led to the development of the Council's lead microbicide, Carraguard�, which is currently in FDA-approved clinical trials. Today, his laboratory continues to investigate fundamental research on HIV, as well as developing novel second-generation microbicides and developing in vitro and animal systems for more advanced ways by which to assay microbicides. He also works on evaluating the safety and stability of candidate microbicides and the safety of rectal lubricants.
Phillips received his Ph.D. at the University of Chicago, followed by a postdoctoral research appointment at Harvard Medical School. He joined the Population Council in 1973 to conduct fundamental research on sperm and fertilization. In the early 1980s when the HIV/AIDS pandemic began to be recognized, Phillips developed an interest in HIV research. In 1987 he received a grant from the NIH to investigate the manner by which HIV is transmitted during sexual contact. Within a few years, he had identified candidate compounds that might be employed in a vaginal microbicide, one being carrageenan, the active ingredient in Carraguard.
A partial list of publications includes:
Phillips, David M., C.L. Taylor, R.A. Maguire, and V.R. Zacharopoulos. 2000. "Nonoxynol-9 causes exfoliation of sheets of rectal epithelium," Contraception 62(3): 149 145.
Tan, X. and David M. Phillips. 1998. "CAT-transfected epithelial cells provide evidence for a CD4 independent pathway of HIV infections," Journal of Reproductive Immunology 41(1 2): 307 319.
Zacharopoulos, V.R. and David M. Phillips. 1997. "Vaginal formulations of carrageenan protect mice from herpes simplex virus infection," Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology 4(4): 465 468.
Phillips, David M. 1996. "Intravaginal formulations to prevent HIV infection," in J. Fantini and J.-M. Sabatier (eds.), Perspectives in Drug Discovery and Design, vol. 5. Leiden, Netherlands: ESCOM Science Publications B.V., pp. 213 223.
A partial list of presentations includes:
Phillips, David M. 2001. "Prevention of sexual transmission of HIV," University of California, Davis, California, February.
Phillips, David M. 2001. "Rectal use of N9," World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, October. |