The Clinical Support Core of the Center for AIDS Research provides a variety of services to encourage the rapid conduct of patient-based research at the NYU CFAR. The services provided are: (1) epidemiological and biostatistical consultation; (2) biomathematical modeling; (3) processing and storage of biological samples from HIV- infected patients and uninfected controls; (4) cataloguing and distribution of information on specimens stored either in the CFAR Clinical Support Core facilities or in the laboratories of CFAR investigators; and (5) procurement of fresh biological samples for HIV/AIDS studies. Services """"""""2"""""""" and """"""""5"""""""" in this list are recent or new addition to the Core's activities. In the areas of biostatistics, biomathematics and epidemiology, the Core responds to requests for assistance in the design and analysis of studies, or for the creation or application of mathematical models, and also engages in active outreach to seek ways in which the Core's expertise can be applied to CFAR's constituent research programs. Liaison with each of the major laboratories in the CFAR is assigned to a specific Core professional Specimen management activities are closely integrated with epidemiological consultation, i.e., investigators wishing to store specimens in the Clinical Support Core facilities are encouraged to submit data on a standardized form describing the HIV-risk, demographic, and clinical characteristics of source patients. Investigators wishing access to specific types of specimens of patients than are referred to colleagues who have stored appropriate specimens or enrolled appropriate patients with the Core. The Clinical Support Core's provision of epidemiological and biostatistical consultation in addition to specimen and management services ensures that unnecessarily duplicative collection of biological samples from patients is avoided.
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