UCSD has made a strong commitment to AIDS research, as reflected by the high caliber of its faculty conducting both basic and clinical research related to HIV, and by recent plans to establish and AIDS Research Institute as an Organized Research Unit (ORU). The goals of a CFAR at UCSD are in accord with the goals envisioned for the AIDS Research Institute, which are to provide mechanisms to generate improved core research facilities, to foster interactions among researchers, to provide support for new investigators and feasibility studies, and to provide educational and training opportunities in the many areas related to HIV infection. Dr. Wong-Staal will serve as P.I. and Director of the UCSD CFAR. She will be assisted by Dr. Douglas Richman, Deputy Director, in overseeing the performance of the CFAR. Dr. Wong-Staal and Dr. Richman have complementary areas of expertise, and their cooperation should strengthen he interaction of basic and clinical AIDS researcher at UCSD. There will be three basic science cores: Molecular and two clinical cores: Primary Virus Isolation and Specimen Banking Core Data and Analysis Core. The thematic area of this CFAR application is 'Molecular Approaches to AIDS Therapy and Prevention'. Current AIDS-related activities at UCSD span basic studies on viral regulation, mechanisms of pathogenesis, preclinical development of therapy and vaccine strategies and clinical studies that impact on opportunistic infections, neurobiology and psychiatry and clinical treatment of AIDS. In addition to R01 support to individual investigators, there are coordinated efforts that include the AIDS Clinical Trial Units (ACTU) for adult and pediatric patients, a National Co-operative Vaccine Discovery Group and the NIH Postdoctoral AIDS Research Training Grant. The multidisciplinary research goals of the CFAR are several fold: to conduct basic research in the areas of molecular pathogenesis and immunopathogenesis of AIDS; to utilize insight from the basic studies to develop preclinical studies on therapy and prevention; to design Phase I/II clinical trials based on promising preclinical data; and to modify existing treatment regimens based on basic research and preclinical data. Accomplishment of these goals will be greatly facilitated from the proposed CFAR research support and developmental cores.
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