Crowd-funded HIV vaccine project sparks debate

A tiny coffee shop table can barely contain Reid Rubsamen, whose restless energy nearly propels him out of his chair as he talks about Project Immunity, his initiative to crowd-source money to make a new HIV vaccine. “It is dreaming big,” declares the anaesthesiologist and entrepreneur, whose enthusiasm makes him an effective pitch man for Project Immunity, based in Oakland, California. Its web videos have helped the effort raise US$402,000 from crowd-funders, and the technology-startup accelerator Y Combinator, based in Mountain View, California, has chipped in another $20,000. Read more.