AIDS-RELATED RESEARCH DIVISION: AIDS RESEARCH CORE SUMMARY The AIDS-related Research Division (ARD) provides the scientific expertise and resources to enable efficient and productive use of nonhuman primates for AIDS-related research at the Washington National Primate Research Center (WaNPRC). As such, the Specific Aims of the Division are to 1) generate scientific resources by maintaining active research programs in key areas of AIDS-related research, 2) provide scientific leadership to the Service/Resource Cores within ARD, 3) provide focal points for collaborative research programs with investigators outside of WaNPRC, and 4) provide training and expertise to students, fellows and other research personnel. The ARD is comprised of three Core Staff scientists who maintain independently funded programs, which together constitute the AIDS Research Core. The AIDS Research Core conducts research in diverse and interrelated areas of primate lentiviruses and AIDS, including animal models for AIDS, virology, vaccine research, inflammation and immunology, pathogenesis, antiviral therapy and cure research, molecular biology, and microbiome. Additionally, two Service/Resource Cores, AIDS Virology and AIDS Immunology Cores, will operate under the direction of the Core Staff Scientists. The AIDS Virology Core, which has been in operation for the past 15 years, provides standardized procedures and assays to support AIDS-related research at WaNPRC, including tissue specimen processing, serology, viral load determination and production and characterization of viral stocks and antigens. In this granting period, we propose to also form a new core, the AIDS Immunology Core, to develop and refine cutting-edge procedures and assays that will better support the critical and growing need for services and expertise in AIDS immunology. The three Core Staff Scientists in ARD also serve as focal points to interact and collaborate with other research divisions and Service/Resource cores within WaNPRC as well as collaborators outside of WaNPRC who routinely utilize the scientific and technical expertise and resources at WaNPRC. All Core Staff Scientists of ARD participate in the training of personnel to conduct AIDS-related research, providing experience in a wide range of immunology, molecular biology, biochemistry and virology techniques. In addition to training students, fellows, research technologists and other professionals, members of ARD host visiting scholars, conduct seminars, organize research meetings to promote and utilize the intellectual and scientific resources at WaNPRC, and serve on academic and scientific organizations (e.g., various committees at UW, NIH study sections, advisory boards, editorial boards for scientific journals and organizing committees for national and international meetings) as well as the community at large.
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