DURHAM, N.C. – The Duke Human Vaccine Institute has been awarded a contract in the amount of $28.1 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to house a virology quality assurance program for laboratories involved in HIV research.

The Virology Quality Assurance Program (VQA) at Duke is led by Thomas N. Denny, professor in the Department of Medicine, chief operating officer of the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and principal investigator of the VQA Central Laboratory, which is part of the Immunology and Virology Quality Assessment Center.

“The VQA Program is hugely important for HIV research and vaccine development, and we are excited to bring this program to the Duke Human Vaccine Institute,” Denny said. “This is a core program supporting the HIV treatment, cure and vaccine fields and puts us at the forefront of helping to ensure the integrity of important assays used globally in HIV research.”

The lab performs several oversight functions, including quality assessment of virologic-based assays, and quality assurance to help standardize virologic assays and laboratory procedures. The lab also provides quality control materials to monitor performance standards and help verify novel assays.

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

Denny will lead the program in close collaboration with other Duke faculty members, including Susanna Naggie, M.D., Micah Luftig, Ph.D., Feng Gao, M.D., and John Bartlett, M.D. Additionally, Duke has partnered with Michael Busch, M.D., Ph.D., at Vitalant Research Institute located in San Francisco.  

This is a cost-reimbursement, term/level of effort type contract with Term Options and Quantity Options for Additional Level of Effort. The contract amount includes the base period and all options.