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.

Identification of the mechanism(s) responsible for drug reinforcement is a key step in understanding the mechanism of reinforcement learning. but has so far proven elusive.The dopamine neurons of the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra pars compacta. located within the ventral mesencephalon. are a central locus for drug reinforcement.Even a single exposure to cocaine is sufficient to alter the biophysical properties of AMPA receptors (AMPARs) on dopamine neurons.

Clinical data indicate that people with heart-related diseases and other underlying medical conditions are at a significantly higher risk for COVID-19. Many of these underlying diseases have genetic sources. Importantly, susceptibility to artery diseases are linked to multiple SNPs within FURIN, which encodes a cell membrane-bound protease known as Furin. Studies suggest that Furin can cleave the SARS-CoV-2 Spike (S) protein to facilitate/enhance viral entry into human alveolar type II cells.

We aim to determine the structural basis of RNA processing in host immune and inflammatory response critical for viral survival and growth and will conduct HTS screening, medicinal chemistry, and in vitro and in vivo studies towards rapid clinical translation.

Core instrumentation for the Biology Core to expand the flow cytometry capabilities.

The goal of this project is to develop a standardized test that measures immune cellular response to Coccidioides antigens. This assay is useful in a variety of clinical scenarios. It could serve as a diagnostic test for active CM. an indicator of whether or not prophylactic antifungal therapy is needed. a marker of severe infection with disseminated disease and/or a correlate of prolonged antifungal therapy.

We aim to develop a high-throughput fluorescent assay of Orf10-CUL2 binding; identify candidate inhibitors of Orf10-CUL2 binding by computational screening; evaluate impact of these molecules on SARS-CoV-2 replication in cell-based assays and in the mouse model; and develop medicinal chemistry infrastructure for optimization of Orf10 inhibitors.

The goal of this project is to support research by expanding ABSL3 primate capabilities.

The major goal is to generate ATB in animals and perform experiments aimed at depleting MDSCs to look at the impact in clinical, microbiological and immunological terms.