The Collaborative Clinical Research Branch (CCRB) is responsible for the overall management of CCRB Laboratories (Leidos labs), which are contracted through the National Cancer Institute-Frederick. The labs support NIAID clinical trials and basic researchers. The assistant contracting officer’s representative is a member of the CCRB and is heavily involved with guiding the work and collaborations with scientists, budget, and oversight to ensure compliance with the NIAID mission. The contractor provides effective and rapid response in assay development and repository services to urgent and compelling public health concerns such as HIV, H1N1, Ebola, and Zika. Laboratories that are running clinical assays are CLIA certified.
Disease states that the labs study include but are not limited to HIV, hepatitis C virus (HCV), chronic granulomatous disease of childhood, eosinophilia, seasonal flu such as H1N1, autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome, Crohn's disease, and ulcerative colitis. The lab also researches vaccines for HIV and Ebola.
The labs perform these assays as well as others: immune functions, viral loads, biomarkers using ELISA/MESO technology, flow cytometry-routine HIV and research, cell sorting by FACS and/or magnetic beads, oxidative metabolism of neutrophils, proliferation, genomics-such as HIV and DNA, influenza Hemagglutination Inhibition Assay, EBV cell lines, luciferase immunoprecipitation systems (LIPS) assay , Illumina, bioinformatics, and preparation and storage of biospecimens such as plasma, serum, CSF, PBMC, nasopharyngeal, and biospies. There is an extensive biorepository containing more than 2 million specimens dating back to the early 1980s to perform retrospective and prospective studies on such diseases as HIV, HCV, and influenza.
The laboratories collaborate with NIAID networks such as the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT) and the NIAID Influenza Research Collaboration.