Funded under the FP7 CHAARM project (Combined Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Microbicides) aims to further develop the research on microbides as a promising system to reduce a person's risk of HIV infection. CHAARM project Kick off meeting will take place in Rome the 9th and 10th February 2010. The project started last 1st January 2010 and will run for 60 months. Some of the 31 partners participating in the project met in Brussels last 13th January in a Steering Committee meeting which set the first work guidelines of this challenging and promising initiative. The consortium involves internationally recognized research centres in HIV investigation, universities, medical institutions and RTD from 8 European Union countries and Switzerland, Ukraine, South Africa and the United States. All this effort is coordinated by the King