UTMB News

An experimental vaccine aims to solve that problem by priming the immune system to recognize both the spike protein and a second — and far more stable — viral protein. “We think of it as a one-time solution for all the COVID variants,” said Haitao Hu, an immunologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch and senior author of a study describing the vaccine in Wednesday’s edition of the journal Science Translational Medicine. The Seattle Times published this article, also. The Galveston County Daily News reported this news as well.

Researchers from the Catholic University of America and the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston demonstrated an effective intranasal COVID vaccine tested in mice.

The Galveston County Health District and the University of Texas Medical Branch will begin offering the updated BioNTech and Moderna bivalent COVID-19 booster vaccines. “While we cannot precisely forecast effectiveness in any individual, we expect that the new messenger-RNA bivalent vaccines will offer better protection against these strains than previous options,” the medical branch said.

These are symptoms persisting weeks, months and even years after the initial infection. We are still trying to understand the root cause of the kind of multi-system symptoms and how to reliably diagnose them. Dr. Victor Sierpina wrote about the ongoing research.

Scientists have an exciting new treatment approach to cure advanced-stage ovarian and colorectal cancer. The bad news is that it has only been tested in mice. The good news is that testing it in humans is the next step and clinical trials could begin soon. Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel wrote all about in the latest Medical Discovery News column.

Dr. Pei-Yong Shi, an expert in vaccine development and virology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, commented on shots that Moderna and Pfizer made for both the Beta and Delta variants that went through human trials. “The companies have tried multiple modified sequences before,” he said. “I’m totally in support of this recommendation of bivalent boosters,” Shi adds. “I think we can always say we want more clinical data, but if that’s the case, we’re always playing the catch-up game.”

Elizabeth Lyons of the University of Texas Medical Branch said some people love video games because there's a lot of unpredictability and surprise. Lyons tries to mimic these characteristics in her own fitness game designs. As part of her research, she created a Facebook page to help motivate older women in Galveston, Texas, to go for daily walks. To keep the participants on their toes, she posts fun challenges on the page. “A lot of the things we've been trying to do with challenges is bring back a sense of childlike wonder," she said – kind of like what you get when you're exploring a video game world for the first time.

The booster is designed specifically for the omicron variant, said Dr. Janak Patel, director of infection control and health care epidemiology at the University of Texas Medical Branch. “This is our first effort to move towards a vaccine that is adapted to the more virulent strains,” Patel said. The idea is this booster could begin what scientists hope will be an annual cycle of vaccination against COVID, he said. “This is the future,” Patel said. “I believe this is the future for learning to live with COVID infection.”

On the program Town Square, Dr. Jeff Temple offered perspectives on abuse during the conversation. Temple is vice dean for Research and Scholarship at the School of Nursing; the John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Community Health; and the director of the Center for Violence Prevention at UTMB.

Researchers at the Center for Violence Prevention at the medical branch received the rare score on their renewal of a grant focusing on long-term effectiveness of dating violence prevention program. The program, known as Fourth R, is presented to middle schoolers to teach them the dangers of abusive relationships and the benefits of healthy ones. “I am thrilled to receive such a rare perfect score,” said researcher Jeff Temple, vice dean for research at the School of Nursing and director of the center.

In the recent Vaccine Smarts column, Drs. Megan Berman and Richard Rupp advise everyone to prepare for a potentially rough flu season. One way to forecast the season is to observe what happens to people in the Southern hemisphere as their winter occurs during our summer, and some of their influenza strains make their way to us. We may be in for a bad one as Australia had a rough flu season. This winter we may have a “twin-demic” of both COVID and flu filling hospital beds and clinics. It is important that people receive their influenza vaccination to keep this from happening.

Dr. Victor Sierpina wrote about a study about taking heart and blood pressure medications at night. This may not be the best choice for everyone, and Sierpina explained why.

Your biological age, also called your functional or physiological age, gauges how old you appear, Drs. Norbert Herzog and David Niesel wrote in Medical Discovery News. Biological age uses many variables including your genes, lifestyle, diet, activity level and even how well you sleep. Your mental condition is also a factor. As with any tool like this, take the results with a grain of salt.

Journalists at the San Francisco radio station interviewed Dr. Vineet Menachery, Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston. Coronavirus has been on a mission to evade the immune system since its beginning, he said. “As these new variants emerge, part of the issue is that they have an increased ability to get around our immune defenses, so developing new vaccine platforms that target these new variants will improve our immunity, is the hope,” Menachery said. MSN also carried this interview.

The San Francisco radio station also featured Dr. Jeff Temple, Professor and Licensed Psychologist and Founding Director of the Center for Violence Prevention at the University of Texas Medical Branch. Everyday gun violence leaves a shockwave of lasting trauma in families and communities, particularly young children who witness their parents being killed. Not all have access to psychological help, but some good programs exist in the United States. “It is possible to heal,” Temple said.

In a large cohort of men, pre‐diagnostic use of metformin and testosterone replacement therapy was associated with lower incidence of prostate and colorectal cancers, but not male breast cancer. “The greatest reduced risks of prostate and colorectal cancers were observed when metformin and testosterone replacement therapy were combined,” said Dr. David S. Lopez, associate professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch School of Public and Population Health, told Healio.