The Central Laboratory Core serves as the central storage facility for specimens collected by the U54 Partnership for Prevention of HPV-Associated Cancers in People Living with HIV: Brazil, Mexico and Puerto Rico (PHAC-BMPR) Program, co-led by Drs. Anna R Giuliano and Luisa L Villa. This core builds on the extensive infrastructure and international experience of the HPV Infection in Men (HIM) Study laboratory core in operation since 2004 supporting research conducted in the US, Mexico, and Brazil. Originally a core to support HPV natural history research the core infrastructure expanded in 2012 to include HPV vaccine clinical trial operations in Mexico and South Africa. In addition, the core builds on the extensive experience and infrastructure in Brazil managing the biorepository and cervical HPV testing in support of the Ludwig-McGill HPV Natural History Study since 1994. The overall goal of the CL Core is to receive, process, store, and release high-quality, well-annotated biospecimens in support of the three clinical trials proposed to reduce HPV-related cancers among men and women living with HIV in Latin America. In addition, the CL Core will provide centralized research-quality cervical pathology evaluation for endpoint adjudication, DNA extraction, HPV genotyping, and immunological evaluation for the proposed clinical trials. Core activities will be centralized in two laboratories, one led by Dr. Giuliano at the Moffitt Cancer Center and one led by Dr. Villa at the University of So Paulo, Brazil.
