• To provide expertise, consultation, assay performance, and training in immunology techniques including those that require BSL3 procedures
• To provide concierge-leve service for genomics research relevant to HIV

Since this CFAR was established in 2015, the LSC has been integral to its success, focusing considerable local resources and expertise on pressing contemporary challenges to reduce the burden of HIV. By providing enabling scientific support and cutting-edge technologies to CFAR investigators, the LSC has created new and impactful collaborations, synergies and career development opportunities at our partner institutions. VUMC has a long history of visionary leadership, and has long prioritized institutional support for shared core facilities and invested accordingly. The result is an impressive range of institutional cores, equally available to investigators. A huge advantage of this system is that core leaders are driven to keep their cores at the technological forefront, made possible by leveraging institutional resources. VUMC has invested heavily in a state-of-the-art genomics core, VANTAGE (VANderbilt Technologies for Advanced Genomics), where Dr. Simon Mallal (CFAR PI) is Director and Dr. Das (Co-director of the LSC) is the associate Director for Microbial Genomics. In these roles they make high-level decisions on innovation and advancement of genomic technologies and acquisition of new genomics platforms, expertise and equipment. As institutional cores serve all disciplines, their services must be generic and cannot be tailored to meet needs specific to HIV. The LSC has made great progress bridging this gap in several areas by providing services specifically designed for HIV clinical, translational and basic science researchers needs. For example, the LSC established cell processing/isolation protocols for specific cell subsets from PBMC, adipose tissue, and skin or microbial DNA extraction from low biomass samples (e.g, tissues or saliva). The LSC developed assays to evaluate phenotype and function of T lymphocytes and to prepare and single-cell sort T and B lymphocytes. Before CFAR, individuals would have had to develop these techniques in their own laboratories, and most would lack the “wet lab” experience to accomplish this. These services are available to CFAR investigators through a chargeback mechanism. Through VANTAGE, the LSC has enhanced single-cell analytic capabilities, including B-cell receptor (BCR) and T-cell receptor (TCR) sequencing, RNA transcriptional profiling, CITEseq, HIV plasma RNA and proviral DNA sequencing and HIV integration site assays. The LSC provides a concierge service and “continuum of support” for investigators from study design through to analysis. During the next funding cycle, the LSC will continue to provide leadership and services specifically responsive to needs of HIV investigators, so that they may advance their science in ways not possible without CFAR. The LSC will work closely with CFAR investigators to design assays, facilitate assay performance, and help interpret results. The LSC will promote basic, clinical and translational HIV research through two Specific Aims:

• Design and performance of HIV-focused flow cytometry assays including:
  • Expression of cell activation markers
  • Identification of memory T cell subsets and T regulatory cells
  • Intracellular cytokine expression
• Single cell sorting in a BSL2+ facility
• Single-cell transcriptomics
• T-cell receptor sequencing
• Mass cytometry (CyTOF)
• Sensitive PCR assays for HIV (Droplet digital PCR)
• HIV p24 ELISA
• Training of Core users
• Specimen processing and tracking
  • Plasma, PBMCs and other human specimen such as skin and adipose tissue
• DNA and/or RNA extraction from tissue