NDRI Supports Groundbreaking Pilot HIV Donor Recovery Project

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI) has been awarded a research subcontract of $225,453 to support the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Division of Clinical Research (DCR) HIV Replication Study aimed at improving HIV treatment.

The effort is being coordinated at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research, whose prime contractor, Leidos Biomedical Research, Inc., issued the subcontract to NDRI. Under the agreement, NDRI will pilot a HIV tissue procurement program beginning in early 2017.

Through its network of Tissue Source Sites (TSS), NDRI aims to collect high-quality biospecimens for the purpose of studying the replication of HIV in the various potential tissue reservoirs in patients whose viral load is suppressed. Analyses will be conducted at the Frederick National Lab.

The overall goal of the NIAID DCR HIV Replication Study is to increase the understanding of viral latency in infected cells and persistent low-level HIV replication in tissue reservoirs, and then to use this understanding to improve HIV therapies. The objective is to collect a variety of tissue types from 10 deceased donors with HIV, and conduct DNA and RNA analysis of the viral strains that persist in cellular compartments within different tissue types. NDRI will work with multiple TSS types to identify patients who are eligible for this project and who die from reasons other than their HIV infection.

About NDRI

The National Disease Research Interchange (NDRI) is the nation’s leading source of human tissues, cells and organs for scientific research. A not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization founded in 1980, NDRI is funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, public and private foundations and organizations, pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporations. NDRI is a 24/7 operation that partners with a nationwide network of over 130 tissue source sites (TSS), including organ procurement organizations (OPO), tissue banks, eye banks, and hospitals. The TSS, are distributed throughout the USA, in 45 states, with concentrations in major metropolitan areas on both the east and west coasts. Their wide geographic distribution allows NDRI to provide biospecimens from donor populations with diverse demographics and also facilitates the timely and efficient provision of fresh tissues directly to researchers across the country. By serving as the liaison between procurement sources and the research community, NDRI is uniquely positioned to support breakthrough advances and discoveries that can affect advances in the treatment and cure of human diseases.

About the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research

The Frederick National Lab is dedicated to improving human health through discovery and innovation in the biomedical sciences, focusing on cancer, AIDS, and emerging infectious diseases. The lab is headquartered 50 miles north of Washington, D.C., in Frederick, MD., and is sponsored by the National Cancer Institute, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

NDRI Executive Office
Kerri Harvey, 215-557-7361, ext. 216

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