March 2018

As spring emerges, our research is blossoming. Read this month's issue of Discoveries to learn more about we're impacting the scientific community and the public at large.

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Success
Ebola virus is one of the deadly pathogens in the BSL-4 lab.
Promising treatment for Ebola virus to be testing at Texas Biomed

During the most recent outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, one experimental drug called ZMapp showed promise in treating this deadly infectious disease. Now, scientists at Texas Biomed have been awarded a $6.6 million contract by the makers of ZMapp, Mapp Biopharmaceutical, Inc, to further test this promising new therapeutic. Ricardo Carrion, Ph.D. and Anthony Griffiths, Ph.D. are teaming up with Mapp Bio to perform pivotal studies that will transition this new medication to FDA licensure. The high-contained Biosafety Level 4 lab at Texas Biomed makes the Institute a good fit for the two-year long project.
 

Innovation

Ian Cheeseman, Ph.D.
Important research by Ian Cheeseman, Ph.D., featured in prestigious journal Science 

Dr. Ian Cheeseman 's  new methods research into malaria  first published in December in the journal  Genome Biology and Evolution  was  highlighted in the Editor's Choice section  of the journal  Science  in January 2018. Dr. Cheeseman studies the genetics of malaria parasites. As an Assistant Scientist in the Department of Genetics, Dr. Cheeseman and his team are coming up with new ways to look at different strains of malaria. "At a basic level we simply do not know what's in a malaria infection, even though this has profound implications for how we think about treating and eradicating this disease," he said. Using various technologies, these scientists are literally cracking open cells and using single cell DNA sequencing to discover previously unknown characteristics of malarial infections.
 
                                                                         Collaboration 

Dr. Mark Gorelik works with an animal model at Texas Biomed.
Texas Biomed and the Children's Hospital of San Antonio team up to tackle Kawasaki disease
   
Kawasaki disease is a mysterious illness that affects young children and can lead to heart problems later in life. When pediatric specialist Dr. Mark Gorelik of  the Children's Hospital of San Antonio was looking for a place to conduct his research into this condition, Jean Patterson, Ph.D., a Scientist at Texas Biomed, gave his animal model and his experiments a place to call home. Watch this video to learn more about how scientists and physicians are collaborating to find new ways to address the affects of this disease.
 
 

Education
The winners of the 2018 Science Education Awards
Five Area Science Teachers Win Education Grants

The Texas Biomedical Forum and the V.H. McNutt Memorial Foundation provide grants to Bexar County teachers who are looking for funding for specific projects in their classrooms. The awards totalling $20,000 were given out March 7, 2018, at The Argyle. Congratulations to Saint Mary's Hall, Jefferson High School, Warren High School, Alamo Heights High School, and the Advanced Learning Academy. For a list of the teachers and their projects, click here.
 

Contact:
Lisa Cruz,
Director of Public Relations
8715 W. Military Dr., San Antonio, TX  78227
lcruz@txbiomed.org

Wendy Rigby
Media and Communications Specialist
8715 W. Military Dr., San Antonio, TX 78227
wrigby@txbiomed.org