The overall goal of the Laboratory Sciences Core is to provide laboratory support for HIV-1-related research performed by D-CFAR members at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. This research is both patient-oriented and laboratory-based. A crucial aspect of the work of this core is to enrich existing research programs by broadening and deepening the range of immunovirologic analyses used to analyze clinical material and to foster new """"""""translational"""""""" collaborations between bench and clinical investigators. It is anticipated that the development of the LSC will foster scientific exchange between NIH-funded HIV research investigators as well as of other NIH-funded researchers not currently engaged in HIV research with the members of the Laboratory Sciences Core and result in fruitful collaborations. The D-CFAR Laboratory Sciences Core is organized under four Specific Aims : 1. To provide specialized, innovative and standardized immunologicand virologic analyses for HIV-1 patient-oriented investigations. Immunology services will focus on innate and adaptive immunity for quantifying immunologic function, such as flow cytometry-based assays of natural killer and dendritic cell function, assays for evaluating antigen specific memory and effector T cell responses, regulatory T cells, output of naive cells from the thymus, molecular assays including real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) for gene expression and virology services for viral isolation, co-receptor usage and neutralization assays. 2. To initiate the development of a """"""""Neuro-AIDS Support Section"""""""" for future integration into the Laboratory Sciences Core. The Neuro-AIDS Support Section would aim to facilitate collaborative, focused, novel, laboratory-based research in HIV neurovirology and neuro-immunology and 3. To facilitate collaborative projects between laboratory-based and behavioral or clinical scientists, and to provide training for new fellows or investigators undertaking D-CFAR-supported investigations with a laboratory component. 4. To develop and maintain a repository for specimens from patient cohorts provided through collaboration with the Clinical Support Core. Coordinater and provide oversight and quality assurance (QA) for collection and processing, storage, retrieval and testing of study specimens. The staff and investigators providing these services will overlap and it is anticipated that this will be the key to integration of basic and clinical studies.
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