Dedicated to Discovery. Committed to Care.

Center for AIDS Research (CFAR)

CFAR Cores

Administrative Core

Director: Joseph Sodroski, M.D.
Joseph_Sodroski@dfci.harvard.edu

The Administrative Core facilitates the initiative of all the CFAR cores and supports CFAR leadership and CFAR members.

The Administrative Core meets its objectives by:

  • Maintaining financial responsibilities.
  • Organizing and promoting scientific meetings and seminars.
  • Providing general management and scientific support.
  • Promoting collaborations among members.
  • Developing CFAR Outreach programs for schools and community organizations.
  • Assessing needs and outcomes.

Developmental Core

Director: Joseph Sodroski, M.D.
Joseph_Sodroski@dfci.harvard.edu

The Developmental Core provides support for new investigators to develop AIDS-related research activities.

The Development Core:

  • Provides funding for the basic science pilot projects.
  • Facilitates development of experimental and innovative approaches to AIDS research.
  • Encourages and promotes collaborations among CFAR members.
  • Supports the Retrovirology Dinner Club
  • Recruits new investigators

Biohazard Containment Core

Director: Dana Gabuzda, M.D.
Dana_Gabuzda@dfci.harvard.edu

Manager: Karen Byers
Karen_Byers@dfci.harvard.edu

The Biohazard Containment Core provides a Biosafety level 3 facility for the propagation and purification of human or simian immunodeficiency viruses.

The Biohazard Containment Core offers:

  • Technical support in the preparation and propagation of viral stock and cell lines.
  • Technical support in testing the toxicity and efficacy of potential anti-viral agents.
  • 2, 825 sq. ft. of Biosafety Level 3 research space is protected by entry and exit airlocks and a dedicated ventilation system which maintains the negative pressure differential. The area is divided into 12 individual workrooms, two cold rooms, and one dark room for fluorescence microscopy.
  • Equipment provided includes 13 ducted biosafety cabinets, flow cytometer, ultracentrifuge enclosed in a biosafety cabinet, 11 incubators, 12 centrifuges, inverted and standard fluorescent microscopes, microfuges with containment features, (7) -80 C freezers and (2) -140 C freezers, and Wallach Victor luminometer. Personal protective equipment is provided, and all procedures meet standards for Biosafety Level 3.
  • CCD Camera attached to inverted fluorescent microscope.

The facility is housed on the seventh floor of the Jimmy Fund Building and is closely supervised and maintained by Karen Byers, the Biohazard Containment Suite Manager. For further information regarding training and scheduling, please contact Karen Byers at (617) 632-3890.

Molecular Biology Core Facilities

Facility Director: Paul Morrison
Paul_Morrison@dfci.harvard.edu

Core Leader: Ellis Reinherz, M.D.
Ellis_Reinherz@dfci.harvard.edu

The Molecular Biology Core Facilities provides a full suite of services, including:

  • Automated DNA sequencing, contig construction, genotyping.
  • Peptide synthesis, conjugation, HPLC purification, modifications (biotin, phosphorylation).
  • DNA synthesis, reverse phase purification, modifications.
  • Protein sequencing.
  • Mass analysis, tryptic mapping and identification of post translational modifications.
  • BIAcore protein ligand, DNA ligand assays.
  • Amino acid analysis.
  • Database searches available for all data produced.

The Molecular Biology Core is located in JFB 216. For more information regarding pricing and services, please contact Paul Morrison at (617) 632-3082 or go directly to http://mbcf.dfci.harvard.edu.

Cell Culture Core

Director: Wayne Marasco, M.D., Ph.D.
Wayne_Marasco@dfci.harvard.edu

The Cell Culture Core has been designed to provide investigators working on AIDS-related projects with large quantities of monoclonal antibodies, proteins or eukaryotic cells at low cost and with a special attention to quality and specific needs of the invesigator.

The Cell Culture Core offers supplemental funding to investigators using commercial cell and antibody production services to meet their needs. Requests for usage of these funds are being screened by Dr. Sodroski on the basis of the feasibility of the project and the relationship of the work proposed to AIDS and HIV research.

For more information regarding use of funds, please contact Dr. Wayne Marasco at (617) 632-2153 or Dr. Joseph Sodroski: joseph_sodroski@dfci.harvard.edu.

Clinical Core

Director: Norman Letvin, M.D.
nletvin@caregroup.harvard.edu

The main emphasis of the Clinical Core is to develop HIV/AIDS clinical research and to provide the infrastructure needed to conduct translational research.

Clinical Core's initiatives include:

  • Support of workshops, seminars, and symposia that promote interactions of clinical and basic science researchers, and health care providers in the community.
  • Recruitment of new faculty.
  • Support for junior faculty interested in AIDS clinical research.
  • Funding of pilot projects that support community-based educational and health-care initiatives.
  • Providing support services such as flow cytometry and patient specimen acquisition assistance.
  • CFAR Cell Sorting Facility (http://research.bidmc.harvard.edu/v_path
    • The Cell Sorting Facility at Beth Isreal Deaconess Medical Center will perform cell sorts for CFAR members on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
    • For additional information, please contact:

Biostatistics Core

Director: Rebecca Gelman, Ph.D.
Gelman@jimmy.harvard.edu

The Biostatistics Core provides consultations and collaborative statistical services to many of the DFCI-BIDMC-CH CFAR investigators.

Services that are offered by the core include the designing of protocols for clinical studies and laboratory and animal experiments by helping to formulate hypotheses, ways to test them, what and how much data to collect, and how to store the data.

Member of the Biostatistics Core also advise investigators about monitoring lab, animal, or clinical studies as they are ongoing. They help to perform statistical analysis and advise on which methods to use in analysis and which computer packages are available.

Contact Information

If you have an old project that you have worked on before with one of the following statisticians, please contact that statistician directly for additional statistical assistance. If you have a new project, please contact Sandra Lee, who will 'triage' the statistical work to one of us based on workloads and the nature of your project.