Reagent kits used for HIV vaccine trials

Imperial College has recently started HIV vaccine trials as part of the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and is using reagent kits to analyse immune status

Imperial College in London has recently started HIV vaccine trials as part of the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and is using reagent kits from BD Biosciences to analyse immune status.

Peter Hayes, senior scientist in the IAVI laboratory, explained: "Blood samples are being taken over the course of a year from 120 volunteers so the numbers of CD3, 4, 8 positive cells and the level of interferon gamma produced in response to the vaccine can be assessed." He continued: "Every country has slightly different strains of HIV and the vaccine needs to be tailored for each area.

IAVI is currently conducting trials at a number of sites throughout the world and has plans to begin others in Uganda, South Africa, China and India.

In addition to running the trials in London, our laboratory is responsible for training the staff at these sites and providing them with everything they need to ensure the results are of the same high standard.

"We find mixing reagents ourselves too time consuming so we use the BD FastImmune Intracellular kit in conjunction with a BD FacsCalibur flow cytometer to speed up the process.

The company has given us lots of support, including donating one of the laboratory's flow cytometers.".

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