Nonhuman primate (NHP) models present the opportunity to test a variety of candidate AIDS vaccines, optimizing their ability to elicit immune responses and testing their ability to prevent infection or to control virus replication after virus challenge. NIAID provides immunological and virological support for NHP studies conducted at NIAID's Simian Vaccine Evaluation Unit (SVEU) contract sites and by Division of AIDS (DAIDS)-supported vaccine researchers through four existing NHP Core Laboratories (NHP Core Labs): the Functional Genomics Lab, the Humoral Immunology Lab, the Cellular Immunology Lab, and the Viral Lab. The NHP Core Functional Genomics Laboratory has the objective of ensuring standardization and comparability of functional genomics services and assays conducted for the SVEU and DAIDS-supported preclinical NHP studies. Importantly, the ultimate aim is to apply and refine high throughput functional genomics approaches in NHPs to more effectively evaluate vaccine-induced adaptive and innate immune responses and vaccine efficacy in challenge/protection studies and identify responses (e.g., transcriptomic signatures) that predict vaccine efficacy.
