Central Laboratory Core

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PROJECT SUMMARY – CENTRAL LABORATORY CORE The overarching goal of the Central Laboratory (CL) Core for the Partnership to Assess Viral and Immune Landscape Intersections with Oncology for People Living with HIV (PAVILION) is to provide centralized biobanking and virologic and immunologic assessment of well annotated biospecimens in support of the proposed translational studies as well as future PAVILION pilot projects. The CL Core will be co-led by three exceptional investigators, Drs. Johann Schneider (South Africa), Zvavahera (Mike) Chirenje (Zimbabwe), and Tim Waterboer (Germany), who have complementary expertise. The CL Co-Leaders have designed a robust yet flexible pipeline and range of analytical methodologies that builds upon the infrastructure and long-term international collaborations established by the PAVILION partnering investigators in South Africa, Zimbabwe, the US, and Germany. The CL Core purposefully pairs this unique expertise with established laboratories in the low- and middle-income country (LMIC) partner countries to efficiently advance knowledge related to tumor and patient characteristics. This knowledge can then inform the development of effective prevention and cancer treatment interventions to reduce the burden of cancer for people living with HIV (PLWH) in LMICs disproportionately impacted by HIV. To achieve the overarching goal, the CL Core will provide centralized, research-quality pathology evaluation for endpoint adjudication of collected tissues, DNA and RNA extraction, HPV and EBV detection and genotyping, RNA expression analysis, multiplex viral serology assessment, and immunological evaluation of the tumor microenvironment for the proposed and future projects. These activities are organized into the following Aims: Aim 1: Serve as a centralized biobanking resource in South Africa and Zimbabwe for the collection, processing, and storage of biospecimens in support of PAVILION studies This aim provides biobanking of high-burden and under-researched viral cancers in LMIC settings, including non-cervical HPV-associated cancers (anal, oropharyngeal, penile, and vulvar) and conjunctival cancer, with a suspected but as of yet unidentified viral etiology amongst PLWH. Aim 2: Provide centralized virologic and immunologic testing of biospecimens in support of proposed and future PAVILION studies This aim provides centralized viral and immunologic testing of banked specimens in support of proposed and future study aims through a robust set of analytical methodologies across four PAVILION partnering institutions, including LMIC and non-LMIC sites. Aim 3: Provide centralized expert pathology in support of proposed and future PAVILION studies This aim provides comprehensive and expert centralized pathology adjudication of banked tissue specimens in support of the proposed translational studies and future Developmental Core pilot studies.