HIV up close: Unprecedented view of virus reveals essential steps for causing AIDS

Accomplishing a feat that had been a pipe dream for decades, scientists have recreated in a test tube the first steps of infection by HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), the virus that causes AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome). Doing so has provided up-close access to the virus -- which is otherwise obstructed from view deep within the cell -- and enabled identification of essential components that HIV needs to replicate within its human host.