Potential Study Subject Populations- International
Clinical research sites include eight Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Clinical Centers of Excellence (COE) in Gaborone, Botswana; Maseru, Lesotho; Mbabane, Swaziland; Lilongwe, Malawi; Kampala, Uganda; and Mbeya and Mwanza, Tanzania; as well as the Romanian-American Children’s Center in Constanta, Romania. Each COE is well equipped with computers with Internet access and offers housing for trainees and visiting collaborators. Baylor College of Medicine employs 30 or more individuals at each center, including faculty physicians and full-time training coordinators.
Over 200,000 HIV-infected patients are linked in the international Electronic Medical Records (EMR) system, and are available to CFAR investigators for epidemiologic, operational, and clinical research.
Laboratory research capacity
Recent investments in the COE in Mbabane, Swaziland, have led to enhanced laboratory capacity and designation as the Swazi national pediatric TB referral center. The original COE structure has >9 square meters of laboratory space that houses BSL-2 biosafety hoods, phlebotomy, centrifugation, comprehensive chemistry and hematology capacity, clinical 4-parameter BD FACS flow cytometry for measure of CD4, LED microscopy and GeneXpert technology. In the past year, we completed construction of a freestanding 178 square meter clinical and laboratory facility adjacent to the existing COE structure with the purpose of strengthening TB clinical and lab facilities within the COE complex. The new facility includes exam and counseling rooms, a dedicated open air space for induced sputum procedures, a 38 square meter X-ray room to hold a digital X-ray machine, and a 32 square meter laboratory. The new laboratory is equipped for PBMC isolation, ELISPOT assays, DNA isolation, microscopy, real-time PCR and GeneXpert NAAT technology. Equipment includes two BSL-2 bio-safety hoods, a –80 degree freezer, two floor model centrifuges, and Thermolyne Locator 4 CY50965 model alarmed liquid nitrogen cryorepository able to hold 3,600 samples. This facility is equipped with negative pressure and air conditioning designed to maximize air ventilation and shares with the existing COE a hydro-stabilizing structure to reduce flooding and sustain uninterrupted water flow. The existing back-up generator and newly purchased uninterrupted power supplies ensure continuous power feed, while protecting specimen viability in the event of a blackout. The new facility is designed to allow for expansion into the surrounding verdure as our program expands.
The Stefan S. Nicolau Institute of Virology in Bucharest occupies a three-story building adjacent to the Dr. Victor Babes Hospital for Infectious Diseases. The institute serves as the central virus reference laboratory for all of Romania. It is well equipped for HIV ELISA and Western blot, HIV culture, HIV DNA and RNA PCR, HIV p24 antigen determination, and lymphocyte monoclonal phenotyping. Major equipment includes freezers, low and high speed centrifuges, autoclaves, electrophoresis equipment, and a PCR thermocycler.
If you would like to propose a study involving any of these potential subject populations, please contact Dr. Mark Kline at
Updated September2015