The Viral and Rickettsial Disease Laboratory (VRDL) of the California Department of Health Services participates in the NCCFAR both as a service provider and as a user of the services provided through the NCCFAR structure.

The VRDL serves as the Virology-Immunology Core for the NCCFAR and provides a comprehensive array of HIV-related virologic and immunologic assays, which can be utilized by other HIV/AIDS investigators, to support pathogenesis/natural history research and/or clinical trials of anti-viral treatment, vaccines, or immune modulation/restoration therapy. This service is monitored regularly and periodic outcome evaluations are performed.

The VRDL also serves as an HIV/AIDS laboratory-training center through our participation in the Fogarty International AIDS training center at UC Berkeley, which will also be a component part of the NCCFAR. The VRDL has a 14-year history of involvement in many aspects of HIV/AIDS biomedical research, including prospective natural history cohort studies, lab support for clinical trials of HIV prevention (both vaccine and non-vaccine), clinical trials of immune modulation, and most recently, pre-clinical vaccine development.

We also anticipate the need to conduct vaccine studies in non-human primates and the possibility of conducting Phase I human safety trials of candidate vaccine formulations within the next several years. Since VRDL/CDHS does not have a primate facility, a medical center, or participant recruitment capacity, the availability of these resources through the NCCFAR will result in a dramatic enhancement of the ability to conduct VRDL-initiated clinical trials of treatment and vaccines.

Finally, our natural history and pathogenesis research is also enhanced through the research collaborations that the NCCFAR is designed to foster.