Celebrating Pride Month: "Angels in America" wins 4 Tony Awards 1993

Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, a play by Tony Kushner, won four Tony Awards at the 47th annual ceremony, held June 6, 1993. The play focuses on homosexuality and AIDS in the US during the 1980s.  It premiered on Broadway in 1993.  

The play received much controversy due to the blunt treatment of AIDS, homosexuality, and male nudity, leading to funding cuts for art funding in some cities. But Angels in America was received well by critics and it won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

It took home honors for Best Play, Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play for Ron Leibman, Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for Stephen Spinella, and Best Direction of a Play for George C. Wolfe.  Angels was also nominated for Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play for Joe Mantello, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Play for Kathleen Chalfant, and Best Scenic Design.  

Also that night, Madeline Kahn won Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her performance in The Sisters Rosenweig.  Andrea Martin won Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in My Favorite Year.

Merritt Butrick, Star Trek actor, born 1959

Actor Merritt Butrick, born September 3, 1959 in Gainesville, Florida, who played Dr. David Marcus, Captain Kirk's son in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, left us too early.  He appeared in Star Trek II and Star Trek III: Search for Spock. 

He appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Symbiosis. Unfortunately, he passed away in March 1989 from AIDS.

Celebrating Pride Month: AIDS first reported 1981

June 5, 1981, Dr. Michael Gottlieb reported an epidemic disease, which would later be known as AIDS, in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the news letter of the Center for Disease Control.  It was the first notice published on AIDS.

He was one of the first researchers to test AZT on AIDS patients.

Celebrating Pride Month: Richard A. Heyman, first openly gay mayor of Key West

Richard A. Heyman was the first openly gay mayor of Key West, Florida, and one of the first openly gay public officials in the United States.  He served Key West from 1983-1985 and 1987-1989.  Under his administration, he made it illegal for Key West employers to fire staff who had HIV/AIDS.

He passed away of AIDS-related pneumonia in September 1994.

Scientists testing 'designer anti-bodies' to rid body of AIDS virus

One reason HIV has never been eliminated from anyone despite the number of anti-HIV drugs extending the lives of millions is that the virus can integrate its DNA into the chromosomes of white blood cells.  This helps it escape the notice of the body's immune system.

Two separate research groups have designed artificial versions of anti-bodies, molecules produced by the immune system to target pathogens.  With natural anti-bodies in 'Y' shapes, both arms of the 'Y' grab onto the same target, but the arms of the designer version clasp onto unique proteins.  One grabs onto an HIV protein and the other onto a CD3, a receptor on the white blood cell surface.

HIV hides its DNA inside white blood cells that have CD3 receptors.  A killer T cell, which destroys HIV-infected cells, is a second type of "CD3-studded lymphocyte".

The first bispecific antibody, bound to a cell harboring latent HIV, prompts the cell to divide.  This process brings new HIV proteins to the surface.  Then the second bispecific antibody clasps a killer T cell and brings it near the cell with HIV proteins on the surface.

"Come into my parlor," said the spider to the fly.

Tests are still in the laboratory phase but researchers hope to start tests on HIV-infected people in a year or so.

http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2015/10/designer-antibodies-may-rid-body-aids-virus