North Carolina: Duke to House HIV Vaccine Testing

The National Institutes of Health has awarded a seven-year, $52.8 million grant to support the creation of the External Quality Assurance Oversight Laboratory at Duke University Medical Center. The lab will develop, implement, and lead oversight of quality assurance laboratories involved in HIV/AIDS research and vaccine trials around the world. At present, labs around the world perform tests for HIV studies; experts believe having a single laboratory providing oversight will improve the reliability of findings. Thomas Denny, who will lead the new lab, said, "Patients, physicians, and researchers all need to feel confident that a test on a blood sample performed in New York will yield the same results as the same test performed in London or South Africa, as an example. Today, you might not find that."

Back to other news for November 2010