UTMB News

A gift to UTMB from the Sealy & Smith Foundation will be put to good use in the fight against COVID-19 by supporting a collaboration of UTMB scientists to work together concurrently on a broad range of studies to develop promising vaccines and therapies. “We are extremely thankful for the Sealy & Smith Foundation’s generosity,” said Dr. Ben Raimer.

The Sealy & Smith Foundation of Galveston has awarded a $3.35 million gift to the University of Texas Medical Branch to support research focused on a portfolio of studies to develop medical countermeasures to fight the COVID-19 virus.

UTMB’s Katrina Lambrecht explains steps taken by the health system to keep patients visiting ambulatory clinics safe from COVID-19. According to Lambrecht, this involves removal of some of the chairs in waiting areas to allow for greater distances between patients, and frequent disinfecting of all surfaces. In addition, expanded clinic hours will allow for patient flow that will not crowd waiting areas.

The use of telemedicine has surged during the COVID-19 pandemic. UTMB’s Dr. Elizabeth Jaramillo discussed her use of telemedicine with The Facts newspaper. “In our clinic, we have been connecting with patients through video and audio only,” said Jaramillo. “UTMB has set up specific sites for face-to-face visits to help minimize patients’ potential exposure to the coronavirus.”

Victor Sierpina provides readers with steps they can take to maintain their body’s natural and robust immune system to fight off a COVID-19 infection or at least minimize its impact.

In their regular column, Megan Berman and Richard Rupp tell readers that 2009’s outbreak of the novel H1N1 flu can teach us much about dealing with COVID-19.

A local story on the Galveston National Laboratory’s historical relationship with the high-containment lab in Wuhan. Through time, the GNL has hosted Chinese scientists for training to work in the high-containment lab. Between 2008 and 2016, the GNL Biocontainment Training Center trained scientists from about 70 countries. According to UTMB’s James Le Duc, there are redundant safety mechanisms built into all biocontainment laboratories to reduce the risks of accidental exposures.

This national feature story focuses on testing efforts in Galveston County, noting that few U.S. counties are testing for the coronavirus as aggressively as Galveston County. According to the story, county residents are being tested at a rate three times the national average. UTMB’s Chris Toomes explains it was a big effort early in the year to acquire supplies needed for testing. “We put two of our own buyers in the lab to work directly with the lab team to scour the planet for supplies,” Toomes said. “We knew everybody at some point was going to want these materials.” The story was published on U.S. News & World Report, The Guardian, Swissinfo, Yahoo! News, MSN News and other media outlets.

UTMB researchers have identified novel mechanisms that contribute to protections against Marburg infection. There are currently no vaccines are drugs approved for human use to protect against the Marburg virus. “Antibodies are currently the most promising platform for developing post-exposure treatments for Marburg virus infection and are critical tools for design of improved vaccines,” said UTMB’s Alex Bukreyev who led the research team. Cell Host & Microbe published the research findings.

The role of testing in making decisions about reopening the economy is the focus of this story from Utah. In the story, UTMB’s Vineet Menachery points out that most COVID-19 survivors may possess some immunity, but most coronaviruses do not appear to confer lifelong immunity but may mean less severe future infections.

UTMB’s Susan McLellan makes the case for a very cautious approach to reopening the state. Hear her remarks beginning at 37:00.

A Washington, D.C., think tank recently laid out benchmarks for communities to guide them on reopening decisions. The local paper talked with county leaders, including UTMB’s Dr. Ben Raimer, to assess where the community stands in relation to the benchmarks.

President ad interim, Dr. Ben Raimer recently spoke with the press about actions the university is taking to deal with financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Galveston County Daily News also covered the press briefing.

Laundromats are an essential business, but many have still closed to protect employees and customers, which means some people may have to handwash their clothes. Providing information for the story, UTMB’s Vineet Menachery says if clothes are more than six feet away from an infected person’s sneezing and coughing, they are safe to line dry.

Gulshan Sharma also comments in this local story about what seems to be a flattening of the COVID-19 curve, which is why UTMB is looking at reopening slowly and selectively.

When 24 state prison systems were asked how many ventilators they had at the ready, only Texas said it had any. In the story, they note that Hospital Galveston on UTMB’s campus has access to equipment such as ventilators. Of the 23 other states that responded, 19 said they had no ventilators and the rest did not answer the question.

UTMB’s Gulshan Sharma is one of the local health care leaders in this story who has seen what appears to be a flattening of the COVID-19 curve.

As part of the COVID-19 response effort, the Galveston National Laboratory is dedicating all lab space and researchers to the search for drugs to prevent the illness. In this story, UTMB’s Peter Melby and Patricia Aguilar discuss those efforts, which includes work done by Pei-Yong Shi.

There are many questions SARS-CoV-2 antibody testing, but most agree it is needed in order to gather data for epidemiological models. They could also indicate whether someone is immune to the illness. UTMB’s Vineet Menachery stresses that antibodies are not a definite indicator of how long someone is immune to secondary infection.

UTMB’s Vineet Menachery provides an answer to the question: can a person get COVID-19 more than once? This is one of many questions answered in this Q&A from Time.