Race for a Vaccine: UST Holds Virtual Forum with Leading Vaccine Trial Expert on Oct. 8
Leading expert on respiratory viral pathogens, noroviruses and infectious diseases, Dr. Robert Legare Atmar, will hold a virtual forum at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8. His focus will be on epidemiology, impact of SARS-CoV-2 and vaccines, interventions and treatments. Dr. Atmar is a professor of infectious diseases at Baylor College of Medicine. His talk is titled “From Masks to Vaccines – Approaches to Control the COVID-19 Pandemic.”
This Zoom talk, is open to the first 300 people who log on — is hosted by UST’s TriBeta student chapter, which brings leading scientists to the University from the Texas Medical Center and research labs around the United States. TriBeta’s mission is to stimulate scholarship, disseminate scientific knowledge and promote biological research. Dr. Rosie Rosell, professor of Biology, is TriBeta’s faculty advisor.
Dr. Atmar’s Background in Vaccine Trials
Dr. Atmar earned his M.D. from Baylor College of Medicine and his Bachelor of Science from Texas A&M University. He is a member of the Baylor Vaccine Research Center and the federally funded Vaccine Treatment and Evaluation Unit (VTEU). This research group performs Phase I to Phase IV studies of experimental and licensed vaccines, and Dr. Atmar serves as Principal Investigator or Co-Investigator for many of the clinical trials. Dr. Atmar and the research group have been involved in important studies that led to the licensure of live attenuated and high dose inactivated influenza virus vaccines. Moreover, they have conducted many studies evaluating vaccines targeting pandemic influenza, including H5N1, H9N2 and H7N9 viruses, and they have assessed methods to improve vaccine immunogenicity, including the delivery of vaccine by different routes of administration, different dosages, and with different adjuvant preparations. Also, the group has evaluated vaccines targeting other pathogens, including those with importance to biodefense. He serves as one of the investigators of the Baylor site for Moderna’s phase 3 clinical trial for a COVID-19 vaccine.
