CovCare Spotlight: University of Texas at Austin

Much like with Montefiore Medical Center, the University of South Alabama, and Houston Methodist Hospital, CovCare is extremely proud to have the University of Texas at Austin among their trusted partners and clients as tremendous strides are being made in research toward discovering a vaccine for COVID-19 at UTA.

It’s hard to think of the second surge of the Coronavirus pandemic in the United States without considering how Texas became the new epicenter of the world health emergency with hospitalizations and deaths skyrocketing over the past two months. The drastic rise in deaths from COVID-19 resulted in Governor Greg Abbot and health officials implementing a statewide mask wearing mandate three weeks ago that has proved to be effective in containing the spread and outbreak of the virus that has caused more than 4,500 deaths across Texas. 

The news is a welcomed change compared to the grave situation hitting large urban areas and cities like Houston and Dallas, where deaths are reportedly on the rise. While the hope is that new case counts remain steady, Texas still has a long journey ahead in actively reducing the rate of viral transmission. With nearly 4 million Coronavirus cases across the United States and hospitalizations surging in different parts of the country there continues to be a growing demand for tests, with 3 million COVID-19 tests conducted in Texas statewide as of July 22. 

Thankfully at the University of Texas in Austin, tremendous strides are being made in research toward discovering a vaccine for COVID-19. 

According to the University, researchers successfully re-designed a protein from the Coronavirus, which could provide faster and more stable production of vaccines across the globe. Most Coronavirus vaccine candidates train the human immune system to identify a key protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus called the "spike protein" to help fight infections. A new version of the protein can produce up to 10 times more protein compared to synthetic spike protein currently used in multiple Coronavirus vaccines according to researchers. The work being done by these groups of researchers makes CovCare extremely proud to have previously provided the University of Texas in Austin with face masks and PPE to provide protection, much like it has with other CovCare partners and clients. Named “HexaPro”, the new protein is more stable than the earlier version and should be easier to both store and transport as a robust vaccine. HexaPro also could be used in COVID-19 antibody tests where it would act as a probe to identify the presence of antibodies in a patient’s blood, indicating whether a person has previously been infected with the virus.

The story of how Texas has gone from the hotbed of the Coronavirus in recent months to a symbol of hope at the University of Texas at Austin through the work of these scientists is a welcomed sign that help is on the way. According to researchers, if a vaccine is developed and proven safe and effective by fall 2020, the first round would be for frontline medical workers with widespread-use scheduled for closer to Winter 2021. 

Considering research teams created the first 3D atomic-scale map that may help scientists create Coronavirus vaccine back in February, the past six months have yielded remarkable progress at the University of Texas in Austin in innovating a vaccine that could dramatically speed up worldwide production. 

Read More CovCare Spotlights:

Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx

University of South Alabama

Houston Methodist Hospital

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