Texas Facility Among Those In The U.S. Developing A Coronavirus Vaccine
SAN ANTONIO (CBSDFW.COM/CNN) — Though health officials admit a vaccine for the coronavirus is months away, a research facility in Texas is among those in the U.S. working on it.
The Texas Biomedical Research Institute has begun research on COVID-19 and ways to fight it.
Right now, the San Antonio-based company is growing small samples of the virus in test tubes to complete the in vitro step.
"From that point, we will test some therapeutics to see if they can block the replication of the virus and then we'll transfer those findings into an animal model," explained Professor Ricardo Carrion, the program director, of the Maximum Containment Contract Research Program.
It was just last month that Texas Biomed applied for a federal grant to help them create different animal models to test the vaccine. The company was approved for $60,000 and they are using additional internal money to fund the project.
The Texas facility is one of about a dozen in the country conducting preventative research. All the labs will work together and share their findings -- in the hopes of developing a vaccine more quickly.
"We have the brightest minds working towards a common goal. So I'm confident that soon we'll have something that will benefit, um, anybody who's infected with it," Carrion said.
The global death toll from the coronavirus is more than 4,000 and the number of confirmed cases continues to climb - currently standing at more than 113.000.