The overall purpose of the FOA is to ?establish Serological Sciences Centers of Excellence with the goal of identifying and advancing research opportunities to characterize the immune responses elicited by SARS-CoV- 2 viral infection?. The ?UNC Center for Excellence in SARS-CoV2 Serologic Research? addresses this RFA by ?performing basic and applied serological research to characterize the immune responses elicited by SARS- CoV-2 viral infection, understand mechanisms driving the broad immune responses, determine modifiers of the immune response and identify serological correlates of disease pathogenesis and protection against future infection?. Administrative Core A is specifically responsive to this RFA in that it has been structured to manage and coordinate all activities associated with our Center. In addition, Administrative Core A will serve as the liaison between the all Centers for Excellence within the Serological Sciences Network (SeroNet) as well as other components of SeroNet, including but not limited to Serological Sciences Research Projects (U01), the FNLCR Serology Laboratory, Serological Capacity Building Centers (CBC) and a Serological Sciences Network Coordinating Center (SSNCC). Administrative Core A will provide leadership, administrative support and infrastructure for Research Projects 1, 2, and 3 (?Project?) and two Shared Resource Cores B and C (?Cores?). Additionl responsibilities of our Administrative Core A include ensuring the data collected across the Program conform with the agreed practice and principles of the SeroNet Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), Common Data Elements (CDEs) and data sharing plan as approved by the SeroNet Steering Committee. Thus, as outlined in Fig 1 the Administrative Core A will 1: Fiscally Manage, Oversee, Facilitate and Evaluate Intra- Program Collaboration Among Projects & Cores; 2: Provide Infrastructure for Human Cohort Recruitment, Sample Collection, Tracking, & Sharing, 3: Develop Trans-SeroNet Collaborations and Collaborative Grants. As outlined in the Overview the UNC Center Research Program Team is already highly intellectually and technically integrated, building upon many multi-dimensional collaborations. As part of the Team structure, we have built layers with distinct yet complementary roles and responsibilities which will promote integrated experimental design, execution, and interpretation to address the current crisis and allow us to apply knowledge collaboratively. This will be supported by a Translational Services Initiative which thus has the infrastructure needed for recruiting sufficient patients and collecting samples necessary to support Projects 1-3 and Cores B and C. In addition, it will result in a bio/data repository in which samples that span the course natural disease, therapeutic interventions and potentially vaccination responses. In addition, our Program?s Annual Research Retreats and our SeroNet Collaborative Pilot and Feasibility Grant Mechanism will connect and integrate our Program, Projects and Cores with the broader SeroNet community further advancing research opportunities to characterize the immune responses elicited by SARS-CoV-2 viral infection.
