Summary Statement: ADARC Program Project on HIV/SIV Vaccine Development

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1 P01 AI43042-01 20 SEP
Ho, David D.
A major problem with the Molecular Virology Core, as it is written, is the
lack of any estimation of the numbers of any of the assays/procedures that
will be performed by the facility. Instead, an example of how the core might
serve each of the three projects is given. Although the exact workload can
rarely be predicted, the lack of even rough estimates makes it extremely
difficult to evaluate the adequacy of the facilities, equipment, staff or
resources available for core use.
S Also missing is the list of references cited in the description of th r
S facilities. Although the actual assays that will be utilized are described
somewhat forsome services, others are described soi tion, leading.
to possible confusion in determ ning whether these services have been
optimized. One example is the measurmsen of viral loads by the bDNA system
from Chiron Corp., or by a reliable quantitative PCR assay-with missing
refernc.e-The bDiNA system is also described in the experimental design of
Project 1. However, no mention is made of a1 use for the ABI7700 sequence
detection system'that is listed as available to Dr. Ho under the Major
Equipment section of Resources for the program. Yet this technique has a much
greater sensitivity and lower cost p r aa'. Several references cited for
Project 1 documented the past success that has been achieved by this group
Jwith the bDNA assay, which is not under question, but it would still be
7 helpful to understand the use predicted for the real-time PCR equipment
available.
The facilities for this core are located in the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research
Center. They consist of a biosafety level 3 laboratory for virology services,
an adjacent area for many of the molecular biology services, and access to a
set of PCR suits and ABI automated sequencer. Access to other equipment and
facilities as needed is implied; no major equipment is proposed. These
facilities and equipment appear to support the types of work proposed for the
core; however, without any indication of volume of work expected, no final
de min tion of the ad e resources can be made.
he most serious weakness, however, is the lack of experienced staffing of the
core. Although the goals for this core are excellent,ualified sctaein.. se..rns a s to whether this core can
function effectively as it is described in the application. Dr. Cheng-Mayer,
the core Co-Director, is well qualified for this task. She will spend 15
percent of her time on the'overai program with possibly some fraction of that
15 percent devoted to efforts other than the core facility since she is also
listed as collaborating elsewhere in the program. Dr. Ho will also devote a
small fraction of his efforts to the core. Take r, this supervision
would be adequate for a core well staffed wi trained
technicians/researchers. However, only on e listed as "To Be
Named withe..ei4vely little experience based on the salary budgeted, is
proposed to perform assays as complicated and diverse as protein expression,
plasmid construction, DNA sequencing, quantitation of viral proteins and
nucleic acids, propagation and characterization of viruses, and kinetics of

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