Researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) and the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, have taken a big step toward developing targeted treatments and vaccines against a family of viruses that attacks the gastrointestinal tract.

Five monoclonal antibody “cocktails,” including one developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC), are protective in animal studies against several variant strains of COVID-19, according to a report this week in the journal Nature.

James Crowe, MD, and members of his lab at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who have pioneered rapid development of monoclonal antibody treatments for life-threatening viral diseases including COVID-19, were featured Sunday on a CBS News 60 Minutes segment titled “The Last Pandemic.”

James Crowe Jr., MD, a physician-scientist on the front lines of global research to eliminate human susceptibility to COVID-19 and other illnesses, is Vanderbilt University’s winner of the 2021 Southeastern Conference Faculty Achievement Award.

The U.S. government has reserved up to 700,000 doses of a monoclonal antibody cocktail against the COVID-19 virus discovered at Vanderbilt University Medical Center and developed by AstraZeneca, officials have announced.

The discovery of monoclonal antibodies that neutralize Rift Valley Fever Virus — an emerging infection with pandemic potential — lays the foundation for future therapeutic antibody development.

Despite an impressive vaccination effort that exceeds 2 million shots a day, rates of COVID-19 are again on the rise in several parts of the United States, as is the spread of highly transmissible variants of the virus.