The Clinical Virology and Specimen Banking Core will continue to serve as a critical link between clinical researchers and laboratory based scientists participating in the UCSD CFAR. The Core stores specimens, isolates virus and quantifies virus load of patients participating in clinical research programs at UCSD and provides clinical and basic scientists with the necessary specimens with which to perform translational research of HIV pathogenesis. Specific functions to be performed by the Core will include: (1) Quantification of HIV RNA load in plasma cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), vaginal secretions and semen; (2) Primary isolation of HIV by culture of specimens of interests including peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), plasma macrophages, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and tissue specimens; (3) Quantification of infectious virus load as determined by quantitative culture of specimens including PBMC, plasma and CSF; (4) Storage of clinical specimens and virus isolates for future user by CFAR investigators; and (5) Cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA quantification in clinical specimens and determination of CMV antiviral phenotypic and genotypic resistance. Specimens and viral isolated obtained by the Core are labelled, stored at -80 degrees Celsius or in liquid nitrogen (when required), and entered into a computerized data base for easy retrieval. Additional information regarding the source of each specimen, clinical data including disease status, CD4+ lymphocyte count, and treatment will be incorporated into the data base. To optimize clinical data retrieval, specimens obtained from persons participating in the major clinical HIV programs at UCSD including the Adult AIDS Clinical Trials Unit (AACTU), the Pediatric ACTU (PACTU), the California Collaborative Treatment Group (CCTG), the HIV Ocular Research Unit and the HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center (HNRC) will have their databases cross-linked with the Core. Thus, the Clinical virology and Specimen Banking Core will serve to optimize the utilization of well- characterized clinical specimens by making its extensive repository available to the wider community of investigators within the UCSD CFAR.
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