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.

A monoclonal antibody “cocktail” developed at Vanderbilt University Medical Center to neutralize the COVID-19 virus is effective against all known strains, or variants, of the virus, according to a report published today in the journal Nature Medicine.

Evotec, a drug company headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, has begun a phase 1 clinical trial of a monoclonal antibody against the chikungunya virus that was identified at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Julie Carell Stadler, Kathryn Carell Brown and Edie Carell Johnson have made a commitment to endow a new chair in Pediatric Infectious Diseases research at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. The inaugural chair holder of the Edie Carell Johnson Chair in Pediatrics will be announced this spring.

The isolation of human monoclonal antibodies against dangerous viruses including EEEV, Hendra and Nipah could offer new ways to treat and prevent these infections.

James Crowe Jr., MD, a physician-scientist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who has pioneered development of human monoclonal antibodies as potential treatments for viral diseases, has won a 2020 “Golden Goose” Award.

Caring for ourselves and for one another will be fundamental to the people of Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the coming weeks as COVID-19 is surging, and over the year as the enterprise adapts further to changes while expanding locally and regionally.