Core B: Immune Assessment

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CORE B: Immune Assessment SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The Immune Assessment Core B is essential to the research goals of the Project PIs collaborating in this HIPC Consortium. The proposed research aims to characterize the innate and adaptive immune response to CMV in recipients of heart, lung and renal allografts. Core B will provide skilled technical and scientific expertise to enable the PIs to achieve their research goals through the following specific Aims. Specific Aim 1. To provide professional expertise in the design and implementation of assays to measure immune cell function. The Core has validated standardized 14-color flow cytometry, multiplex immunoassays, and KIR typing assays to support the research of Projects 1 and 2. The Core will perform the assays and interpret the data. The IAC will ensure consistent and reliable intra- and inter-assay performance using standardized protocols, reagents and data interpretation. The core will coordinate experiments among the projects with the goal of maximizing testing uniformity and cost reduction. Specific Aim 2. To provide standardized sample processing, maintain a centralized biorepository of tissue, serum, plasma, peripheral blood mononuclear cells and urine, and enable efficient sample and data sharing. Processing and storage of graft biopsies, PBMCs, serum/plasma will be performed under standardized operating procedures honed by supporting clinical trials to be HIPAA compliant. The BTM database will be used to house the sample inventories at both UCLA and UCSF and associated data and made accessible to all PIs and staff. The Idea Elan core laboratory management software will be used to facilitate work flow and electronic data reporting to Data Management and Analysis Core B. Specific Aim 3. To provide education of PIs and staff in sample management, immune assessment technologies and data analysis/interpretation, and to disseminate the new knowledge in the HIPC Consortium. The Core will educate the investigators about technologies, their applications and limitations, and will promote communication and collaboration among projects and cores.