The Data Coordinating Center (DCC) supports the National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium (NNTC). The consortium is composed of four NNTC Clinical Sites and the DCC that work cooperatively as a resource for the research community, providing HIV/AIDS investigators with clinically annotated datasets of antemortem information and associated postmortem tissue and fluids. The DCC works cooperatively with the NNTC Clinical Sites to provide (1) management and database capabilities to ensure effective clinical and brain banking operations; (2) scientific expertise in biostatistics and HIV epidemiology to support broad analyses of the NNTC clinical database and analyses that support the recruitment and retention goals for the cohort; and (3) identify gaps and provide solutions to neuroAIDS investigators. The DCC serves as the point of contact for users of the resource (tissue and/or data requests) and services the requests from the time they are submitted through fulfillment of the request and follow up with the requestor to provide the results of their research. The DCC expanded to include the CHARTER study bringing in longitudinal participants and ancillary studies. In this next funding period, the Global CERCH will be developed to enable collaborations and the sharing of specimens and data relating to CSF escape, expanding the DCC's ability to support ongoing neuroAIDS research. The DCC websites are used extensively for dissemination of resource information (query tools, reports, request applications) and management tasks such as resource tracking, document libraries, and communication activities. The DCC provides a central inventory of NNTC data and specimens. Along with this inventory, additional research data such as bioinformatics datasets by the users of the resource are available. The DCC promotes the NNTC through public relations materials including a comprehensive website and meeting presentations. In the past funding period, the NNTC supported 356 separate research grants and 157 peer- reviewed publications.
Since 1998, the National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium (NNTC) has served as a valuable resource to the research community examining the cause and ways to prevent and treat neuroAIDS. This consortium has provided to this community well-characterized specimens with quality antemortem and postmortem data. The Data Coordinating Center (DCC) is an integral part of the NNTC, and provides services as well as a rich bioinformatics database serving as a consortium wide and national resource. Biostatistical, epidemiological, and bioinformatic capabilities are present to achieve the use of the NNTC internally and for external users.
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