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DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke Human Vaccine Institute received a renewal of a $41,463,666 (includes the base period and all options), seven-year (if all term options are exercised) contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to house quality assurance programs for laboratories involved in HIV/AIDS research.

The External Quality Assurance Oversight Program Laboratory (EQAPOL) at Duke remains under the leadership of Thomas Denny, who has been principal investigator of the program since 2010, when the initial contract was awarded. 
 
The EQAPOL program will continue to support the development, implementation and oversight of external quality assurance programs that monitor HIV/AIDS research laboratories around the world.

“EQAPOL is hugely important for HIV research and vaccine development, and we are pleased to keep this role at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute,” Denny. “This is a core program supporting the vaccine field and puts us in the forefront of helping to assure the integrity of global HIV research.”

The lab performs several oversight functions, including quality oversight of assays used in clinical trials around the world that guide vaccine development. The lab also gathers and catalogs HIV strains in circulation throughout the world, which helps scientists record mutations and changes over time.

“The renewal of EQAPOL continues to establish our institute team as leaders in helping to develop the highest quality of immunology or virology laboratory testing activities to support vaccine clinical trials performed as part of the NIAID international trials network,” said Barton Haynes, M.D., director of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute. 

The team works with 56 laboratories in 18 countries around the world. 

“This is a core program supporting the vaccine field and puts us in the forefront of helping to assure the integrity of global HIV research,” Denny said.