Vaccine Research and Development Branch

VACCINE RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT BRANCH

OVERVIEW
The Vaccine Research and Development Branch (VRDB) was started in June of 1988 with the
mission of planning and coordinating a comprehensive research program in AIDS vaccine
development that consists of basic research, preclinical vaccine development, and clinical trials of
candidate AIDS vaccines. These efforts are actively proceeding with an expanding network of
scientists from academia, industry, and government sectors.
The challenges of developing safe and effective vaccines for HIV prophylaxis, prevention of
perinatal transmission, and postinfection immunization have stimulated an extraordinary response
from the international biomedical research community during the past few years. This has
culminated in a more focused research agenda for AIDS vaccine development. The need to
expeditiously evaluate multiple vaccine strategies with the primary goal of identifying the most
promising candidates for potential large-scale studies, coupled with the realization that AIDS
vaccine efficacy trials may eventually be carried out at multiple international sites, has prompted
significantly greater coordination between the major national and international AIDS vaccine
programs.
PROGRAM SUPPORT
The major activities of the VRDB are highlighted below:
HIV Genetic Variation
The HIV Genetic Variation effort consists of a series of interactive research initiatives designed to
study the rate and magnitude of genetic variation in HIV and related retroviruses, to determine
the biologic consequences of HIV genetic variation, and to understand the impact of HIV genetic
variation on strategies for AIDS vaccine development. The effort is guided by the HIV Genetic
Variation Advisory Group, which is kept abreast of the data generated by the laboratories and
which meets periodically to discuss this and other pertinent data, prioritize isolates for analysis,
and essentially advise VRDB on research priorities.
HIV Immunology
The HIV Immunology initiative focuses on identifying and characterizing potential protective
serological and cellular components of the immune response in HIV-infected individuals or
vaccinated subjects. Strategies to enhance protective immune responses against HIV, to assess
neutralization and other indices of the humoral immune response, and to characterize the cellular
immune response to HIV antigens are major components of this program. Efforts are underway to
identify undesirable immune responses which may block protective immune responses against
HIV. Each of the currently funded contracts is studying different cohorts of HIV-1 seropositive
individuals and, in some cases, the seronegative sexual partners or infants born of infected
mothers.
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