Researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have discovered SARS-CoV-2 proteins that suppress the body's immune response, thereby enabling infection and transmission of the disease. The findings, recently published in the major research journal, Cell Reports, are paramount to understanding the biology of Covid-19 and to developing new vaccines against the disease.

The University of Texas Medical Branch has been awarded a two-year, $1.4 million grant focused on helping reduce teen pregnancies. Nearly a quarter of a million babies are born to adolescent females each year. The principal investigator of the study, Dr. Jeff Temple, says the “impacts of teen pregnancy are substantial and persist across the lifespan.”

UTMB’s Vineet Menachery was named one of the 50 people to follow during a pandemic by Elemental, a health and science publication by Medium. Menachery leads one of the few labs in the country that was studying coronaviruses before the pandemic began.

“We’ve all learned the hard way that every time there is an emergence, that triggers some sort of disorganized scramble,” UTMB's Nikos Vasilakis tells WIRED. UTMB is part of a new network to detect and respond when pathogens jump from wildlife to humans.

A $1 million gift from The Sealy & Smith Foundation has established the John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Innovations in Molecular Biology at The University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Pei-Yong Shi, a professor in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department and vice chair for Innovation and Commercialization, has been named the inaugural recipient.

A new study by researchers from The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston suggests that people with substance use disorders may be particularly vulnerable to the adverse respiratory effects of COVID-19, especially those using drugs that impair the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. The findings are currently available in Psychiatric Services.