Updates from 2nd Generation URBAN ARCH HIV/Alcohol P01s
This past spring and summer, the ARCHER team has continued to recruit, screen, enroll, and collect data for the center’s Pain Trial and Physical Activity (PA) Trial. In collaboration with BuildClinical, a vendor specializing in targeted online campaigns to recruit participants for clinical research studies, we have received over 4,000 potentially eligible participants to screen for eligibility for the ARCHER trials. We have phone-screened 924 potentially eligible participants for the Pain Trial, and 847 potentially eligible participants for the PA Trial. In total, we currently have 366 participants enrolled and randomized: 169 in the Pain Trial and 197 in the PA Trial. Randomized participants have consented, completed the baseline interview, and completed 15 days of ecological momentary assessment (EMA) data collection. In the PA Trial, participants have also completed 15 days of Fitbit wear. In addition to collecting baseline data, we have been actively collecting 3-month and 6-month follow-up data: 133 participants in the Pain Trial have completed their 3-month interview and 3-month EMA surveys, and 140 participants in the PA Trial have completed their 3-month interview and 3-month EMA surveys. In the Pain Trial, 117 participants have completed their 6-month interview, of which 101 also completed the at-home blood draw which is shipped to a lab and analyzed for Phosphatidylethanol (PEth), an alcohol biomarker. In the PA Trial, 123 participants have completed their 6-month interview, of which 107 completed the at-home blood draw which is shipped to a lab and analyzed for PEth.
In June of 2025, three members of the ARCHER team (PI Dr. Michael Stein, PA Trial Co-Lead Dr. Ana Abrantes, and Administrative Director Kara Magane) traveled to New Orleans to attend the Research Society on Alcohol (RSA) annual meeting. Dr. Stein presented ARCHER updates and next steps at an ancillary meeting of HIV Alcohol Research Center Directors hosted by Dr. Matthew Freiberg.
The team is excited to announce a new publication of secondary analysis of the Boston ARCH cohort supported by ARCHER: Pain and alcohol consumption among people living with HIV: examining the moderating roles of depression and social support, which was accepted by Alcohol and published online in July 2025.
We invite any interested investigators who wish to use existing Boston ARCH data for secondary analysis to contact ARCHER PI, Dr. Stein, or Kara Magane, Senior Director of Research Operations, for additional information.
The META HIV CVD Randomized Control Trial has enrolled over 120 participants as of the start of September, 2025 with 15 participants having completed the study. The Integrated Metagenomic and Metabolomic Core Lab at the University of Louisville continues to work on processing samples. Alcohol Use and Microbiome-dependent Metabolites in People with and without HIV: Exploring how alcohol measurement affects variability of butyric acid by Sonam Tabor et al was presented at the Research Society on Alcoholism’s annual meeting, representing the META HIV CVD Cohort project.
The META Admin Core successfully hosted its 4th Annual meeting, Research on Alcohol and HIV, a satellite meeting to the Research Society on Alcohol’s annual meeting. It was presented by the META HIV CVD team, NIH Office of AIDS Research, and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. This took place on June 21, 2025 in New Orleans, LA. We had a historic 97 attendees register, representing 32 institutions from around the globe. The meeting featured 12 oral presentations, 27 poster presentations, and a mentoring session.
Thank you to all who attended the meeting!
