A researcher who studies an AIDS-like virus in monkeys to better understand AIDS in children has received a major research grant named in memory of the late AIDS activist Elizabeth Glaser. The Elizabeth Glaser Scientist Award of more than $675,000 has been given by the Pediatric AIDS Foundation to Marta Marthas, a UC Davis virologist and one of the nation's leading researchers in studies of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) -- the monkey form of AIDS. This is one of five such awards presented annually. Marthas studies the transmission of SIV and development of simian AIDS, focusing on strategies for preventing infection or delaying progression of the disease. "Receiving the Glaser award is a great honor and responsibility for me," says Marthas. "I was so inspired by Elizabeth Glaser's energy and determination, despite her illness, to prevent HIV and AIDS in children that I was encouraged as a scientist to do as much as I possibly can to realize that goal." Glaser is widely remembered for her eloquent speech before the 1992 Democratic National Convention. She contracted HIV through a blood transfusion during the birth of her first child. That daughter died of AIDS at age 7 in 1988 and Elizabeth Glaser died of AIDS complications in 1994.