HIV-AIDS Breakthrough by Female Scientists

During the 1980s, it became increasingly clear that HIV-AIDS did not spread through saliva, but the mechanism was unknown. During the early 1990s a team including Stephen Eisenberg of Synergen, Inc., and Tessie McNeely and Sharon Wahl of the NIDR Laboratory of Immunology discovered the protein, secretory leukocyte protease inhibitor (SLPI), that blocks salivary transmission of HIV. They announced their discovery in early 1995.