This Contract provides for the adaptation, development, quality assurance, and performance of routine and innovative humoral and cellular immunologic, as well as virologic evaluations, on specimens from volunteers in NIAID-sponsored multicenter AIDS Vaccine Clinical Trials. Limited comparative assays with specimens from non-human primates in AIDS vaccine preclinical trials, HIV-infected individuals, or volunteers in non-NIAID-sponsored trials of candidate AIDS vaccines are also performed by the Contractor. The immunological and virological assay data is electronically transmitted to the AIDS Vaccine Evaluation Group (AVEG) Statistical and Coordinating Center for further analysis. The Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator(s) collaborate in the design and development of AVEG Clinical Trial Protocols, providing scientific leadership regarding the evaluation of vaccine immunogenicity.
