Sunday, November 24, 2024
11/24/2024
The objective of this proposal is to continue to offer an established, growing resource for B virus (Cercopithecine herpesvirus 1) to the Comparative Medicine community for rapid diagnostic assays, B virus- free colony monitoring, new isolate acquisition, drug efficacy testing, provision of standardized reagents and controls, and infection control and epidemiologic monitoring in B virus zoonotic outbreaks. This laboratory will utilize over 15 years experience in assisting the biomedical community to identify, control, and prevent B virus infections, using the unique resources and the BSL-4 laboratories, as well as a repository of nearly one half million samples. The resource staff will monitor 23 surviving cases of zoontically infected humans and study invaluable human tissues from 5 recent fatal cases occurring over the past 15 years. This national resource center will continue to provide physicians and medical staff with state-of-the-art support not only to identify, but to monitor therapeutic intervention strategies in current and future cases. The objectives will be accomplished by the following specific aims: 1) Maintain a licensed, trained, emergency-ready staff of experts and a federally licensed BSL-4, registered for Select Agent handling, to perform virological and serological assays during B virus zoonotic outbreaks, 2) design and implement robotics systems to perform testing, 3) Identify recombinant B virus proteins that are immunoreactive with macaque and human sera throughout the duration of B virus infection:. 4) provide resources for isolation and characterization of novel non human primate viruses, and 5) provide education resources to the Comparative Medicine community and public-at-large where macaques are encountered by humans, including provision of rapid, updated information about B virus, zoonotic infections, and SPF colony management strategies. Together, these aims will provide tools to prevent further loss of life from B virus.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
