Building on RV144, MHRP’s long term goal is to develop a safe and effective HIV-1 vaccine that protects people worldwide from acquisition of the virus. Understanding cellular responses post-vaccination is crucial for informing the development of such preventative and therapeutic vaccines.
A GCLP laboratory focused on T-cell-mediated immunity and its functions, primarily against intracellular pathogens like HIV and Malaria. Cellular Immune Monitoring Core (CIMC) evaluates clinical samples with well-established qualified as well as novel state-of-the-art assays for assessing cell-mediated immunity generated by vaccine products within the MHRP pipeline.
The Flow Cytometry Core supports the HIV vaccine effort and basic immunologic research conducted at MHRP. This core contains state-of-the-art equipment, infrastructure and qualified expertise in flow cytometry. The Flow Core supports critical endpoint and research-based cellular assays to assess immunogenicity for basic research, pre-clinical and clinical trials as well as immune characterization of natural HIV-1 infection in cohort studies conducted within the MHRP, including international sites. The Flow core also supports Ebola, ZIKA, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and other vaccine trials and natural history cohorts.
The team provides technical assistance as well as consulting through all phases of flow cytometry experimentation. The group provides flow cytometric analysis and cell sorting for researchers across MHRP, the WRAIR, and external collaborators. The program is currently striving to build upon immunomonitoring studies and develop discovery-based platforms for understanding vaccine-induced immune responses and their potential role in protection from disease. Examining cellular immune functions that are associated with more favorable disease outcomes will better inform vaccine evaluation.
