Immunology Core

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The overall objective of this Shared Resource Core is to provide comprehensive Immunology support to enhance the activities of the SE STI CRC investigators. The core will provide expertise in monitoring systemic and mucosal immunity with an emphasis on humoral, cellular and biomarker analyses. The Core will utilize in vivo immunization strategies, in vitro restimulation assays, state-of-the-art immunophenotyping and flow cytometry, ELISA and avidity (SPR) analysis of humoral responses, and multiplex inflammatory biomarker analysis. To accomplish Core goals the efforts and expertise of Dr. Sempowski's cellular immunology lab and Dr. Staats' mucosal immunology lab have been combined. Core leaders in addition have available to them the following Duke Human Vaccine Institute Shared Resources: Research Flow Cytometry, Proteomics-Biacore, and Immune Reconstitution. and Biomarker Analysis. These shared resources have the state-of-the-art instrumentation needed to provide worid-class immune monitoring to the SE STI CRC. The inclusion on an Immunology Core in the SE STI CRC will provide a common set of platforms for mechanistic analysis of host immune response for the SE STI CRC investigators. The use of in vitro restimulation assays, flow cytometry and ELISA/SPR will allow comprehensive host response monitoring to both challenge pathogens and experimental vaccines/adjuvants. Blood, tissue and culture supernatant inflammatory biomarker analysis will provide further valuable insight into specific host response pathways which will enhance the challenge and mechanistic studies proposed by center projects, as well as assist in identification of correlates of immunity for vaccination regimens developed by the SE STI CRC. Areas of active STI investigation to be supported by this Immunology Core include fundamental innate and adaptive immune responses (systemic and mucosal) to N. gonorrhoeae, and identification and development of novel adjuvants to augment induction of protective immunity against N. gonorrhoeae