Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the most common cause of cognitive and behavioral deficits in the U.S and worldwide. Most TBIs are classified as mild-TBI and concussion (C) that are associated with minor symptoms and microscopic damage with no observable pathology on imaging scans, and thus are challenging to be diagnosed. Equally important are asymptomatic sub-concussive (SC) head exposures that when left undiagnosed put the subjects at higher risk of repeated exposures, resulting in cognitive declines and initiation of chronic neurodegenerative disease.

Collaborative teams that include Southwest Research Institute staff received two of six recently awarded San Antonio Medical Foundation (SAMF) bioscience grants. SwRI, in collaboration with UT Health San Antonio and University Health System, received a nearly $200,000 grant to develop machine learning algorithms for cancer detection.

Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) are working to synthesize novel highly potent derivatives of the antimalarial drug artemisinin with the goal of creating a powerful, cost-effective malaria treatment. Led by Dr. Shawn Blumberg of SwRI’s Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division and Dr. Doug Frantz of the Department of Chemistry within UTSA’s College of Sciences, the work is supported by a $125,000 grant from the Connecting through Research Partnerships (CONNECT) program.

The Particle Science and Technology Laboratory at Southwest Research Institute has expanded its services to include mask testing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The testing will help health care and other organizations evaluate respirators, surgical face masks and filtration materials to ensure they meet particle filtration standards.

Fueling transformative research through collaboration, the San Antonio Partnership for Precision Therapeutics (SAPPT) announces the funding of three more collaborative COVID-19 research efforts in San Antonio. SAPPT has awarded more than $600,000 to fund these projects, following the funding of a COVID-19 vaccine project announced in April.

Using Department of Defense supercomputers, Southwest Research Institute is virtually screening millions of drug compounds to search for and test possible treatment options for the novel coronavirus 2019. The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine has awarded SwRI a $1.9 million, one-year contract to support efforts to develop a COVID-19 treatment.

The San Antonio Partnership for Precision Therapeutics (SAPPT) along with the Vaccine Development Center of San Antonio (VDCOSA) received a $1 million donation for critical COVID-19 medical research and equipment.

USAA and The USAA Foundation, Inc. officials announced the donation as part of an over $6 million gift benefiting local organizations and military families affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

The San Antonio Partnership for Precision Therapeutics has awarded $200,000 for a collaborative study to develop a novel vaccine to combat COVID-19. Within days of the Stay Home/Work Safe directive issued by the City of San Antonio, the San Antonio Partnership for Precision Therapeutics (SAPPT) organized and issued a call for proposals to combat COVID-19.

Southwest Research Institute has received funding from the Medical CBRN Defense Consortium (MCDC) administered by Advanced Technology International to develop a nerve agent antidote for emergency use on the battlefield or to protect public health.

Drug discovery software at Southwest Research Institute is expanding the capacity to virtually screen drug compounds for possible treatment of coronavirus and other infectious diseases.

SwRI’s Rhodium™ virtual screening tool recently evaluated 2 million drug compounds in a few days, hoping to identify high-probability drugs that may have efficacy against the coronavirus with minimal adverse side effects. Institute scientists initiated the molecular modeling research with SwRI internal funding.