Non Human Primate Core

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CORE B SUMMARY The Nonhuman Primate (NHP) Core seeks to consolidate supervision and performance of the NHP experimental protocols of the Program Project entitled “Immunologic and virologic basis of RhCMV/SIV vaccine-induced replication arrest efficacy” into a structured Core composed of highly experienced research personnel. The global objective of the Core is to provide leadership and technical expertise to ensure consistency and quality control in animal selection, execution of study protocols, application of experimental procedures, animal observations and data collection necessary to meet the objectives of Project and other Core lead investigators. To accomplish this, the Core will manage and directly supervise all NHP studies for the Project including: 1) animal selection; 2) animal housing and general husbandry; 3) experimental procedures and clinical management; 4) specimen collection and processing; 5) necropsy studies; and 6) acquisition and management of animal demographic, physiologic, clinical, and pathologic data. The overall objective of the Program Project is to determine the mechanisms responsible for complete arrest and subsequent clearance of nascent SIV infection in RhCMV/SIV- immunized rhesus macaques, including the requirement for MHC-E restricted epitope recognition for efficacy, how cells mediate replication arrest and the role of IL-15 signaling identified as a predictive transcriptomic signature. The NHP Core will provide the expertise and technical support required to insure successful completion of the multifaceted and extensive NHP research protocols supporting Project 1 – Immunologic and virologic characterization of RhCMV/SIV vaccine-mediated SIV “replication arrest” efficacy, Project 2 – Characterization of the in vivo T cell (and overall immune) interception of primary SIV infection after vaccination with differentially response programmed RhCMV/SIV vectors (MHC-E vs. MHC-II vs. MHC-Ia) and a conventional SIV vaccine, and Project 3 – Determination of the minimal MHC-E-restricted SIV epitope targeting required for RhCMV/SIV vaccine-mediated SIV “replication arrest” efficacy.