Specialized support to advance vaccine development against diarrheal diseases to protect the warfighter"

The U.S. NAVAL MEDICAL RESEARCH UNIT 6 (NAMRU-6) in Lima, Peru is requiring the service of an international organization, hereafter referred to as "the contractor", to provide advanced technical expertise to support vaccine development efforts in enteric diseases. The contractor must have a long-term collaborative agreement with NAMRU-6 and demonstrated track record conducting studies of diarrheal diseases in Peru as shown through strong publication records in this field as well as a long-term research infrastructure in Peru. Under the terms of this contract, the contractor will provide advanced scientific guidance during the execution of non-human primate trials conducted at NAMRU-6. Specifically, the contractor will assist in the implementation of state-of-the-art laboratory assays to measure vaccine-induced immune responses and define immune correlates of mucosal immunity in the context of vaccine studies for enteric diseases. In addition, investigations to address the role of commensal intestinal parasites in the outcome of vaccine studies against bacterial pathogens causing diarrhea will be conducted under this contract. The contractor will provide a full-time post-doctoral fellow who will be relocated to Lima, Peru during the duration of this contract to conduct studies at NAMRU-6. The fellow must have a strong research background in microbiology and immunology and demonstrated experience in the development and validation of immunological assays using multicolor flow cytometer, ELISA and immunohistochemistry among others. Due to the scope of this work, it is required that the post-doctoral fellow must have previous experience on research using animal models of human diseases. DELIVERABLES: - Amend IACUC vaccination/challenge protocols for ETEC, Shigella, and Champylobacter to longitudinally collect an expanded set of non-invasive and invasive tissue samples to evaluate correlates of protective immunity in non-human primates. - Develop and validate immunological assays to assess mucosal immunity in the non-human primate model including flow cytometry, ELISA and immunohistochemistry for NHP vaccine development studies. - Develop standard operating procedures (SOP) for the aforementioned assays. SOPs will be incorporated into bi-annual reports detailing progress in assay development to the contractor and NAMRU-6. - Assess the effects of enteric parasites in the outcome of diarrhea during enteric vaccination/challenge studies in non-human primates. - Execution of assays for all samples to support the aforementioned animal protocols at NAMRU-6. Support data analysis of the results - Lead the preparation of reports and scientific manuscripts for publication. PERIOD: This contract will be executed in a total period of 12 months from March 15, 2014 to March 14, 2015 ESTIMATED BUDGET: Amount $60,000.00 - $70,000.00