September 24th, 2014 - On Wednesday, Senator Lamar Alexander visited Vanderbilt University Medical Center to meet with Dr. Crowe and his team in order to learn about the existing defenses against Ebola. Dr. Crowe and his lab conduct research which aims to develop a drug to protect individuals against the Ebola virus that has recently spread through West Africa. Senator Alexander declared last Tuesday that the growing threat of the Ebola virus must be taken "as seriously as we take the threat of ISIS" and, in a more recent committee hearing, called Ebola "one of the most explosive, dangerous, deadly epidemics in modern times." In March of this year, a collaborative research group comprised of Dr. James Crowe, Dr. Thomas Geisbert and Dr. Alexander Bukreyev of UTMB, Dr. John Eldrige of Profectus Biosciences in Baltimore, and Dr. Ian MacLachlan of Tekmira Pharmaceuticals in Canada was awarded a grant to develop methods of treatment and prevention of Ebola and Marburg virus infections. The federally-funded project will provide $26 million over the next five years to develop and test broad-spectrum treatments and vaccines for Ebola and Marburg viruses. Dr. Crowe explains, "The research tools we are using, human monoclonal antibodies derived from the blood cells of naturally infected human survivors, also can be developed as prevention and treatment biologic medicines (for use) in the field.” While the Vanderbilt Vaccine Center has been studying Ebola and developing prevention and treatment methods for several years, the new funding for Ebola research development comes not a minute too soon. Earlier today in Washington, President Obama spoke to a summit of world leaders, stated that Ebola is a "growing threat to regional and global security” and called for immediate, universal effort to stop the spread of the virus and fund research for development of a treatment.
http://www.nashvillemedicalnews.com/ebola-preparedness-update-cms-3339
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/24/doctors-say-us-rea…
