UTMB researchers to be honored at 'Oscars of ...( GALVESTON Texas Two University of T...)

GALVESTON, Texas Two University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) researchers who pioneered the development of an artificial immune system that mimics that of the human body and will allow researchers to speed the development of vaccines are being honored tonight at a showcase known as the Oscars of invention held at Chicagos Navy Pier.

Anesthesiology associate professor Joaquin Cortiella and microbiology and immunology associate professor Joan Nichols are being recognized at R&D Magazines 45th Annual R&D 100 Awards for their role in creating an immune system in a bottle a test-tube version of the human immune system that will enable biomedical scientists to quickly and cheaply screen large numbers of prospective vaccines and therapeutic compounds.

The technology, which the magazine said could potentially save hundreds of millions of dollars in misdirected R&D and lost opportunity costs, derives from a project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) that originally involved more than 60 scientists and engineers at institutions across the country. Its now under product development by VaxDesign Corp. of Orlando, Fla., which also is being honored at the event along with UTMB and its academic partners in the final stages of the project: Virginia Commonwealth University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, MIT and the Scripps Research Institute.

This award means a lot to us it's recognition that our scientific efforts and those of our collaborators led to a product that will have a big impact on the way we develop vaccines in the future, Nichols said. This is the one of the most innovative things to be brought to the development of vaccines and therapeutics in years, a system based on the human response to disease that allows us to test new vaccines, to evaluate failed vaccines and fix them, to test adjuvants substances that enhance the bodys response to vaccines and to do these things in a way that le
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