The Viral Vector Core facility currently offers support for production, purification, titering, and validation of eleven types of viruses: Adenovirus, Adenoassociated virus (AAV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Influenza A, Lentivirus, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), Rabies-delta-G (SAD-B19-dG, dGL, SiR, and CVS-N2c), Retrovirus, Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Sindbis Virus, Vaccinia Virus, and Zika virus. The core utilizes multiple vector systems to safely produce recombinant and wild type viruses. In addition, the core facility develops transduction protocols for gene delivery to investigators' primary and immortalized cell lines, mouse fertilized eggs, and in vivo gene delivery. In the past year, the Viral Vector Core has packaged and validated over 300 viral samples for gene delivery. These vectors have been utilized in research to express ion channels, transcription factors, biological indicators, hormone receptors, secreted protein expression and purification, gene knockdown by shRNA or genetic modification using CRISPR components. Viral vectors have been used to introduce genes into primary and immortalized cell lines, mouse and rat in vivo or cultured tissue. Other difficult to transfect cell lines, such as hematopoietic and mouse embryonic cells, have also been succesfully transduced using viral vectors. Lentiviral vectors have also been used to generate transgenic animal models for research. The Viral Vector Core also imports and offers propagating strains of viruses used in immunological studies. The Viral Vector Core supports research in the Division of National Toxicology Program (DNTP), Clinical Research Branch (CRB), Epigenetic and Stem Cell Biology Laboratory (ESCBL), Genome Integrity and Structural Biology Laboratory (GISBL), Immunity, Inflammation and Disease Laboratory (IIDL), Neurobiology Laboratory (NL), Signal Transduction Laboratory (STL), and Reproductive and Developmental Biology Laboratory (LRDB)at the NIEHS by providing highly effective means of gene delivery.
