The Laboratory of B Cell Immunotechnology

The primary focus of the laboratory is the study of humoral responses to vaccination and infection with the goal of understanding how to elicit protective responses by vaccination. The laboratory develops antigen-specific reagents for the quantitation and isolation of B cells, and has active projects to study HIV-1, influenza, syphilis, and autoimmunity. The laboratory supports collaborative work for the Duke CHAVI-ID consortium as well as for several CAVD / Gates grants. The laboratory is a central resource for CHAVI-ID and DHVI for flow cytometry, including staining, phenotypic analysis, and sorting.

The laboratory is currently studying the evolution of B cell responses after HIV-1 infection and in collaboration with other DHVI and CHAVI-ID collaborators has been helping to establish the conditions that lead to the development of functional antibodies against HIV-1.

In addition, the laboratory is developing novel adjuvants for use in animal studies. This work has led to recent publications showing the ability of TLR-agonist combinations to boost immune responses to candidate HIV-1 immunogens.

DHVI Clinical Trials Group

The clinical trials group is responsible for the management of observational studies performed within DHVI. These studies are designed to obtain the materials needed for CHAVI-ID and CAVD / Gates work, including the collection of peripheral blood, leukapheresis, and mucosal samples. In addition, the group supports the work of the IVQAC and EQAPOL contracts under the leadership of Tom Denny.

DHVI CHAVI Repository

The repository of clinical material collected during the original CHAVI grant (2005-2012) has been consolidated within DHVI and is now in a unified repository. The CHAVI-ID Scientific Leadership Group provides controlling oversight regarding the distribution of samples from the repository while the physical inventory is maintained by the DHVI CHAVI Repository staff. In addition, the repository serves as the DHVI point of receipt and shipping for materials being distributed within the CHAVI-ID and CAVD / Gates consortia.