Vineet Menachery, a coronavirologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch talked to Katherine Wu about variants improving their ability to resist interferons. “There’s a domino effect,” Menachery said. Wu wrote: “More cells get infected; antibody and T-cell responses hang back, even as viral particles continue to spread. Eventually, the body may get wise and try to catch up. But by then, it may be too late. The brunt of viral replication might be over, leaving the immune frenzy to misdirect much of its havoc onto our own tissues instead.”

“What are we looking at and how long is this going to go on?” said Vineet Menachery, a coronavirus specialist at the University of Texas Medical Branch. “Is this just how we have to deal with it going forward or is there some relief in sight? I think the honest answer is, we just don’t know. We haven’t seen anything quite like this.”

The Houston Public Media radio program featured Dr. Susan McLellan, Medical Director of the Bio-containment Treatment Unit and Director of Bio-safety for Research-Related Infectious Pathogens at UTMB.

In a recent study posted to the bioRxiv preprint server, researchers assessed the neutralization of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) Omicron variant after messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) vaccination. UTMB’s Dr. Pei-Yong Shi is one of the authors of the study.

“Whether it’s called triggers or micro-triggers, we all certainly have things that set us off,” said Jeff Temple, a psychologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch, who adds that sometimes even dreading those transitions can be triggering. “There’s anticipatory anxiety, which is anxiety about being anxious, as opposed to actual things to be anxious about.”

New research shows that a needle-free mucosal bacteriophage (phage) T4-based COVID-19 vaccine is effective against SARS-CoV-2 infection. One of the corresponding authors is Dr. Ashok K. Chopra, Department of Microbiology & Immunology, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Many international outlets also ran this story, including the Italian news site News Mondo.

The University of Texas Medical Branch School of Nursing will launch a nursing certificate program in January that aims to improve care for patients in rural areas where there are not enough professionals to care for these communities. “For telehealth to be a widely adopted solution across Texas, providers need resources, education and support to eliminate barriers and successfully implement telehealth tools into modern health care practice,” said Dr. Kristen Starnes-Ott, Vice Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor at UTMB School of Nursing.

For about three years, the Galveston Island Beach Patrol has been working toward a leadership program. Partnering with the Occupational Therapy team from the University of Texas Medical Branch, its leadership committee modified an existing program that was based on a program generated from a Navy SEAL team.

The Novavax vaccine is an excellent option for unvaccinated individuals hesitant or unable to receive the mRNA vaccines. Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp explain why in this Vaccine Smarts column.

Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel summarize Florence Bell’s biography in this Medical News Discovery column.