This summer, Harvard made national headlines when three of its medical researchers discovered that a small, easily synthesized molecule binds to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)--the virus that causes AIDS--and prevents it from infecting healthy cells.

But while that discovery garnered more than its fair share of media attention, scholars say it highlights but one of many areas of research now underway at Harvard's AIDS Institute.

Founded in 1988, the Institute represents Harvard's attempts to tackle the AIDS crisis from an inter-disciplinary approach--while some researchers are working to find a vaccine, others are studying ways of keeping the virus contained in underdeveloped countries.

At times, Harvard and the Institute have been scrutinized for not paying enough attention to the needs of current AIDS victims. But for the most part, the Institute receives strong praise from both outsiders and Harvard researchers alike.

For while many universities have made breakthrough scientific discoveries, scientists say Harvard's Institute is truly unique because it can tap into the University's greatest strength--its breadth of faculty.

"I don't think there's any institution anywhere that can rival Harvard's ability to respond," says Harvey V. Fineberg '67, dean of Harvard's School of Public Health.

The AIDS Institute was Fineberg's brainchild, and he says he founded it in the hopes that it "inspires communication and innovation in looking at research as an interdisciplinary and cooperative venture."

A quick look at the Institute's participating faculty shows that Fineberg's call has not gone unheeded--faculty at the Medical School and its affiliated hospitals, the School of Public Health, the Law School, the Kennedy School of Government and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences all work on projects at the Institute.

The Institute itself does not actually oversee research projects; rather, it encourages faculty interested in conducting AIDS research to apply for federal funding. In addition, it sponsors various lectures and seminars on AIDS.

Research Directions

Just what direction the research will take is determined by the directors of the Institute's five centers--biologic research, clinical research and care, policy and education, epidemiology and biometry and international cooperation.

Together, those five centers account for about 250 researchers who receive some $45 million each year--mostly from the federal government--says Alan G. Fein, executive director of the Institute.

AIDS research didn't really get off the grounduntil the mid-80s, when sufficient federal fundingfinally became available. And even today, manycriticize the government for holding on to thepurse strings a little too tightly.

"There is no concerted national AIDSleadership," says Michael L. Immel, a member ofthe Boston AIDS action group, AIDS Coalition toUnleash Power (ACTUP). "That results inlow-priority budgets for [AIDS research]."

But funding has soared in the last few years,and at the larger research centers--Harvard amongthem--money just isn't the problem, Fein says. It"isn't a lack of research funding, it's that [AIDSis] an incredibly hard problem to dissect," hesays.