LSUHSC CARC Experimental Core The Experimental Core of the LSUHSC Comprehensive Alcohol Research Center (CARC) is comprised of a Pre-clinical Non-Human Primate Research (NHPR) Unit and a Clinical Translational Research (CTR) Unit. The Experimental Core will support all translational preclinical and clinical studies proposed by the Research Components (RC) and Pilot Projects in this application. The Experimental Core will coordinate and execute all experimental procedures for pre-clinical studies using our established chronic binge alcohol (CBA) Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) non-human primate (NHP) model and proposed clinical studies in persons living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). The overall goal of the Experimental Core is to provide high quality care, treatment, monitoring and use of NHP in CBA/SIV studies, and to coordinate and conduct translational studies in order to examine the impact of alcohol use disorders (AUD), including alcohol consumption patterns on comorbid conditions in PLWHA. The Experimental Core will work in close collaboration with the Analytical Core to manage and optimize the transfer of biological, clinical, and behavioral data collected for storage, preparation, and analysis. The Experimental Core will promote cooperation, efficiency, quality control, and translational abilities for CARC investigators.
The Specific Aims (SA) of the Core are: 1) To provide leadership, management and coordination for preclinical and clinical translational studies; 2) To coordinate and execute NHPR studies; 3) To recruit, consent, and enroll study participants and conduct clinical cross-sectional and longitudinal studies; 4) To coordinate biospecimen and data collection, from pre-clinical and clinical studies, and their transfer to the Analytical Core; 5) To participate in the training of faculty, pre- and post-doctoral fellows, and staff performing research in the NHP model of CBA/SIV or in PLWHA. The CARC Experimental Core will further support CARC investigators through: a) ensuring regulatory compliance for all pre-clinical and clinical studies conducted by individual RC and Pilot Projects; b) facilitate bidirectional translational opportunities between basic and clinical researchers; c) training of personnel and trainees working on CARC alcohol research projects in the use of NHP and on the basics of clinical research; d) ensuring collection of data for clinical sub-aims proposed by RC1 and RC2; e) providing CARC investigators opportunities to expand the scope of research on the impact of AUD on SIV/HIV disease; and f) facilitating CARC investigator interaction with LSUHSC Division of Animal Care (DAC), the HIV Outpatient (HOP) Clinic, and the University Hospital Clinical Translational Research Center (CTRC). The Experimental Core will synergize with existing LSUHSC resources including the DAC, CTRC and the Louisiana Clinical and Translational Science Award (LA CaTS), and the Louisiana Cancer Research Center. The Experimental Core will leverage the existing excellent basic science environment and expertise of our investigators and transform and expand our research approach to involve clinical research, allowing translation of knowledge gained from our NHP basic science studies.
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