New York-New Jersey Center for Actionable NeuroHIV Biomarkers and Integrated Omics (NYJ-CAN-BIO)

About This Grant

OVERALL - Summary: The Developmental AIDS Research Center New York-New Jersey – Center for Actionable NeuroHIV Biomarkers and Integrated Omics, (NYJ-CAN-BIO) proposes to develop the infrastructure and collaborative resources at Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) and Rutgers Health (RH) to enable actionable neuroHIV biomarker driven discovery research. This Center is committed to provide expertise, cutting-edge technologies and training for identifying multidimensional biomarkers that are mechanistically meaningful, diagnostically useful, and translatable towards the development of transformative therapies for HIV-associated CNS dysfunction and strategies focused on the eradication of latent HIV within the CNS. While advances in understanding the pathophysiology of HIV effects on the CNS in the era ART have yielded much progress, current biomarkers are not specific to the CNS, and their utility for biotyping neuroHIV clinical manifestations remains unclear and a significant gap in our efforts to resolve the underlying mechanisms and efforts towards HIV eradication in the CNS. A major barrier to progress in the field is a lack of integrated centralized center to coordinate these efforts. NYJ-CAN-BIO is committed to filing this gap and advance a framework for neuroHIV biomarker discovery, fostering innovation, and promoting collaborative efforts to improve the delineation of CNS disease heterogeneity and clinical outcomes in people with HIV or at risk across the Bi-State (New York and New Jersey) area, a region with one of the highest burdens of HIV across the country. NYJ-CAN-BIO will pioneer biomarker-driven approaches that harness our researchers across two institutions and their basic, clinical and translational infrastructures, integrating cutting-edge technologies, such as 3D organoid and physiological systems, advanced multi-omic platforms and emerging innovations in computational analytics and AI that would ultimately provide a resource and biomarker expertise across the exciting nationwide of DARC and ARC networks beyond the bistate area. The Directors of the Center, Dr. Lishomwa Ndhlovu (WCM) and Dr. Tricia Burdo (RH) and Cores have demonstrated excellence and leadership in neuroHIV and will capitalize on the current expertise of affiliated investigators at WCM and RH through the establishment of an integrated Administrative (AC), Developmental and Mentorship (DMC), and Biosignature (BC) Core structure. To achieve these goals, NYJ-CAN-BIO proposes three aims. Aim 1 will catalyze actionable biomarker-driven neuroHIV research through formation of an AC that integrates translational clinical data with omics driven technologies, computational analytics and 3D brain organoid and physiological system-based modeling across collaborating institutions. Aim 2 will train and support all-encompassing cohorts of early-career, new and established investigators in the emerging fields of neuroHIV, biological indicators of disease, immunology, computational neuroscience, 3D brain organoid and physiological system-based modeling. Aim 3 will guide the discovery, validation, and dissemination of multimodal biomarker discovery omics platforms, computational analytics and human-biology-based new approach methodologies.