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    Zika virus hijacks the host cell’s own defense mechanism to cause disease

    How did Zika virus acquire the ability to infect the brain and reproductive tissue to cause its characteristic disease? The answer may lie in a newly observed ability of the virus to use a host cell’s own defense mechanisms as a disguise. A team from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have published new research that shows the Zika virus evolved to use a host cellular enzyme for its own invasion, potentially explaining the mechanism by which the virus efficiently infects the brain and reproductive tissues, a potential explanation for how the Zika virus causes congenital neurological disorders like microcephaly, found in the newborns of infected mothers.

  • COVID-19 Spreading through Hispanic and Latin populations at higher rates

    Local online news source i45NOW interviews UTMB’s Shannon Guillot-Wright, director of health policy research for the Center for Violence Prevention, about the increased number of COVID-19 infections within the local Hispanic population. KRGV Weslaco also interviewed Guillot-Wright.

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    UTMB earns spot on best hospitals list

    Galveston, Texas – The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston has been named to the IBM Watson Health 100 Top Hospitals list. Specifically, UTMB ranked in the top 15 nationwide among major teaching hospitals on the list. IBM Watson Health recognizes hospitals of all sizes in five different categories – major teaching hospitals, large community hospitals, medium community hospitals and smaller community hospitals.

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    Estrogen and testosterone therapies may decrease severity of COVID-19

    Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston explored the effects of estrogen and testosterone and their possible therapeutic effects in treating older patients with COVID-19. The findings are now available in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

  • Vaccine Smarts-Polio vaccine could help us knock out COVID-19

    A large number of vaccine clinical trials are underway in the battle against COVID-19. According to Megan Berman and Richard Rupp there is a study testing if oral polio vaccine may be able to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections.

  • Finding a cure: Texas research lab confirms drug blocks coronavirus in human cells

    UTMB’s Galveston National Laboratory was one of three labs to confirm a therapeutics company’s drugs were able to neutralize the pandemic coronavirus. “Our lab tested a panel of antibodies against a real SARS-CoV-2 in biocontainment. We were pleased to see very good neutralizing activity for some antibodies,” said UTMB’s Alex Bukreyev.

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