The main goal of the Cell Culture Core facility is to provide a stable, reproducible and reliable source of virus stocks and relevant KSHV-infected and uninfected primary and immortalized cell cultures for all of the projects involved in this program. This centralized source would be cost-saving and provide for reproducible experimentation across the different laboratories. The Core will support all four projects with the following aims 1) produce, isolate and titer stocks of KSHV and recombinant KSHV strains 2) grow, maintain and provide KSHV-infected and noninfected tissue culture cells 3) process tonsil and oral KS biopsies for tissue sectioning or primary cultures 4) provide training for virus production and purification, cell culture growth and maintenance and for biosafety methods and procedures for producing and utilizing herpesviruses in research.

RELEVANCE (See instructions): The Kaposi's sarcoma (KS)-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) is the cause of KS and two other AIDS-related malignancies. KS is the most common oral tumor associated with HIV/AIDS and is one of the most common pediatric and adult tumors in Sub-Saharan Africa. This project will investigate the immune control, activation, transmission and pathogenesis of KSHV in order to develop effective vaccines and therapeutics for this devastatino viral pathogen.