# Texas NeuroAIDS Research Center

> **NIH NIH U24** · UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON · 2021 · $1,265,126

## Abstract

Abstract
The National NeuroAIDS Tissue Consortium (NNTC) is a collaborative tissue and data resourcing program in
which the Texas NeuroAIDS Research Center (TNRC; B. Gelman, PI) has participated since inception in 1998.
The NNTC's purpose is to collect and distribute critical clinical data and tissue specimens from longitudinally-
tracked HIV-infected individuals at high risk for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND), to support
innovative and transformative investigator-initiated research in the NeuroAIDS community-at-large. The NNTC
patient cohort is unique because it is the sole pathology-focused longitudinal cohort in the HIV field. The
consortium has helped to heightened the relevancy of research overall in the field. Beyond supplying tissue
specimens the TNRC provides researchers access to relevant in vivo biomarkers, viral loads, gene expression
data, neuropathological changes, and associated HAND cognitive status. This enables clinical and basic
science-level researchers to incorporate these critical measures into investigations of the mechanisms driving
HAND, HIV-associated pathological effects of HIV infection, or potential HAND therapeutic targets. In past
cycles the NNTC has supported hundreds of research reports and grant applications, and would continue to do
that into the future. The broad aim of the current TNRC application is to continue the cooperative agreement
with other Clinical sites and the NIH, to provide such resources derived from locally-recruited (Texan) HIV
patients, and to focus this local resource to address changing and future resource needs of the NeuroAIDS
community. The TNRC patient cohort will focus in the future on the aging of the HIV population in the USA,
which could inform about how age influences HIV-associated neuropsychological and neurological dysfunction.
TNRC will emphasize providing tissue specimens to define the characteristics of the latent HIV reservoirs in
the deep body compartments of virally suppressed people. Application for continued support to operate the
Texan NNTC clinic site addresses all aspects of the general operating procedures of the TNRC. We describe
recruiting practices, neuropsychological evaluations, substance use surveys, neuromedical protocols, autopsy
procedure, and specimen repository management. We present proposed strategies to contribute to
consortium-wide goals and to obtain synergy with the other units of the NNTC. Continued operation of NNTC
and the TNRC will have a lasting and positive impact on the search for remedies for HAND, CNS aging, CNS
latent HIV reservoirs and many other HIV-associated pathological conditions.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10102683
- **Project number:** 5U24MH100930-09
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS MED BR GALVESTON
- **Principal Investigator:** BENJAMIN B. GELMAN
- **Activity code:** U24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $1,265,126
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-05-01 → 2023-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10102683

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10102683, Texas NeuroAIDS Research Center (5U24MH100930-09). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10102683. Licensed CC0.

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