Clinical Sciences Core
The Clinical Sciences Core provides D-CFAR Investigators with expertise and essential services to facilitate the design, implementation and conduct of HIV/AIDS clinical trials.
Director: Michael Keefer, M.D.
Study Coordinator/Patient Access and Sample Collection Services
- Assistance with screening and referral of subjects and study coordination support
- Biological sample collection and conduct of minimal risk research in clinic population
- Access to HIV+ patient data registry populated from medical records of patients attending the adult HIV clinic
Regulatory and Grant Administration Support
- Provide guidance regarding the involvement of human subjects in HIV/AIDS research including:
- Grant application support and information on NIH and URMC related policies and procedures;
- Developing Human Subject Protection Plans;
- IRB approval process, amendments, annual reviews
Consultative Services
- Assist with development of project-specific strategies for community engagement and advice on how to access diverse, hard-to-reach populations.
- Access to NIAID funded Clinical Research Network Resources; HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HIV Vaccine Trials Network and Rochester Victory Alliance)
Community Outreach and Education
- Participate and support various activities promoting outreach and education about the D-CFAR research activities; HVTU Community Education, Legacy Programs, URMC CTSI Community Engagement, and URMC Center for Community Health
International Collaborations
- Assist D-CFAR investigators in collaborations with colleagues at The Desmond Tutu HIV Center at the University of Cape Town and the Perinatal HIV Reserach Unit at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.
- Provide URMC Investigators access to the South African Wellness Database for analysis and publicaction.
- Facilitate access of specimens and data from Women and Infants Transmission Study (WITS).
Latest Headlines
Starve a Virus, Feed a Cure?
Feb 2012 - A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online in Nature Immunology. The finding comes from an international team of researchers including scientists from the University of Rochester Medical Center, NYU Langone Medical Center, several institutions in France – and a graduate student who is a political refugee from Africa and is now at work in a Rochester laboratory, intent on helping his people who have been devastated by the HIV epidemic.
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Scientists Explore Whether What Heals the Head Can Also Heal the Heart
A diverse group of scientists – experts in cardiology, neurology, immunology, microbiology and chemistry – are teaming up to study drugs that show promise in the treatment of dementia for the treatment of an equally debilitating disease – heart failure. In this case, the connection between the head and the heart lies in a particular enzyme that they believe plays a role in the development of both conditions.
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