COVID-19 Archives - Sanford Burnham Prebys

Tag: COVID-19

Novel coronavirus

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Investigating individual immune responses to COVID-19 vaccination and infection

AuthorGreg Calhoun
Date

March 3, 2025

mRNA concept stock image

New study analyzes how the set of proteins in blood plasma changes following vaccination and infection, and may contribute to improving vaccine development

While many people have received similar mRNA vaccinations to protect against COVID-19, the strength and duration of the resulting immunity varies. It remains unclear exactly what causes individuals’ immune systems to react differently to the COVID-19 vaccine and other immunizations.

To get a better understanding of this phenomenon, scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys, Seer Inc. and Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul examined the type and amount of virtually all proteins in the blood plasma of 12 volunteers as they received two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. The research team published the results of this pilot study in the Journal of Proteome Research on February 4, 2025, detailing the first attempt to comprehensively explore how an mRNA vaccine changes the mix and concentration levels of proteins known as the proteome.

The scientists were able to study a set of more than 3,000 proteins, within which they found a set of proteins that changed following each dose of vaccine. The authors also found a set of proteins that could distinguish between research participants who had or had not tested positive for COVID-19 in the months after receiving the second dose of vaccine.

While more research is needed with larger groups of research volunteers, this pilot study suggests that studying proteome changes can increase our understanding of how individuals’ immune systems react differently to immunization. Future findings from additional experiments may reveal methods for developing more effective vaccines.

Svetlana Maurya, PhD

Svetlana Maurya, PhD, is director of the Sanford Burnham Prebys Proteomics Shared Resource.

Lucélia Santi, PhD, professor adjunto at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, is the senior and corresponding author on the study.

Ting Huang, PhD, a scientist at Seer Inc. focused on data science and machine learning, is first author on the manuscript.

Additional authors include:

  • Alex Rosa Campos, Ramón Díaz and Svetlana Maurya, from Sanford Burnham Prebys
  • Jian Wang, Alexey Stukalov, Khatereh Motamedchaboki, Daniel Hornburg and Serafim Batzoglou, from Seer Inc.
  • Laura R. Saciloto-de-Oliveira, Camila Innocente-Alves, Yohana P. Calegari-Alves and Walter O. Beys-da-Silva, from Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
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New COVID-19 drug passes phase 2 clinical trial

AuthorMiles Martin
Date

January 20, 2022

Illustration of red coronavirus particles against a dark blue background

The new treatment, developed by Avalo Therapeutics with Sanford Burnham Prebys researchers, can mitigate lung damage and improve survival in COVID patients.

In a phase 2 clinical trial conducted by Avalo and supported by Sanford Burnham Prebys, a significantly higher proportion of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 remained alive and free of respiratory failure for 28 days after receiving treatment with the new antibody, called CERC-002. Unlike other experimental COVID therapies, CERC-002 does not target the virus itself, instead targeting the immune response associated with the virus to stop the disease from progressing before it becomes fatal.

“At the beginning of the pandemic we thought vaccines were going to be all we really needed. But with variants like omicron, we’re going to have more people that progress to serious illness even with the vaccine,” says study coauthor Carl F. Ware, PhD, director of the Infectious and Inflammatory Diseases Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys. “We need treatments to stop the progression to severe disease and death.”

The findings were published December 6 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

COVID-19: a continuing crisis
In the United States, over 840,000 people have died from COVID-19. A large proportion of these deaths have been among the elderly or those who are immunocompromised due to a preexisting condition. And while three quarters of the population has received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, many remain unvaccinated.

“A lot of us feel safer now that we’ve gotten our shots,” Ware says, “but the threat of the pandemic has not gone away, even for vaccinated people.”

Most people with COVID-19 experience few to no symptoms. However, elderly individuals, people with a concurrent health condition or those who are immunocompromised are susceptible to a condition called cytokine storm, in which their own immune molecules called cytokines flood the body in higher concentrations than usual.

Rather than helping fight the virus, these extra immune molecules wreak havoc, causing patients to develop the deadly respiratory failure characteristic of severe COVID disease.

“The COVID virus gets the immune system amped up by producing these molecules, which is normally how the immune system fights diseases,” says Ware. “But when there are too many cytokines and they’re not doing their job, it can lead to severe damage.” 

Neutralizing the cytokine storm
The new treatment, CERC-002, is a cytokine neutralizer—an immune molecule that recognizes and deactivates a cytokine known as LIGHT, which is elevated in patients with COVID-19. Cytokine neutralization drugs are currently being tested in the clinic, but they are mainly effective in severely ill patients who are already on a ventilator or other organ support.

“There is a critical need for drugs to stop milder cases from progressing to severe,” says Ware. “This treatment targets the cytokine immune response early enough to stop it in its tracks, which no other treatment does right now.”

83 COVID patients were enrolled in the study, half receiving the treatment, and half receiving a placebo. All patients were hospitalized with mild-to-moderate respiratory distress and were also receiving standard-of-care therapy during the trial.

They found that 83.9% of patients who received a dose of CERC-002 on top of standard of care remained alive and free from respiratory distress for 28 days. For patients receiving placebo, the number was only 64.5%.

Looking ahead
As a phase 2 clinical trial, the purpose of this study was to test whether the compound has therapeutic potential in a small number of patients. Now that the drug has proven successful at a small scale, it can be tested on a larger number of patients to ensure its benefits are consistent across the population.

Additionally, because CEC-002 targets the immune response in COVID cases rather than the virus itself, the compound may have applications that extend beyond COVID.

“Cytokine storm is not unique to COVID. It occurs in other infections—even in autoimmune diseases with no active infection, so this treatment may have some utility in these other diseases as well.” 
While there is more work to be done before CERC-002 becomes widely available, it does offer a glimmer of hope during a pandemic that seems never-ending.

“We have made a lot of progress in controlling the pandemic with vaccines and other new therapies, but it’s not over yet,” says Ware. “Treatments like this may bring physicians an option to protect infected people from severe illness.

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Top Sanford Burnham Prebys research stories of 2021

AuthorSusan Gammon
Date

December 14, 2021

top 10 sign

This year’s most popular research stories include scientific breakthroughs in COVID-19, cancer, schizophrenia and more.

As we bid farewell to 2021, let’s celebrate our most newsworthy research breakthroughs. Despite the continuing challenges brought on by COVID-19, Sanford Burnham Prebys achieved important milestones on the frontiers of biomedical science.

The following 10 research-related stories received top views on Newswise—the press release distribution service for journalists seeking health and science news.

  1. COVID-19: Scientists identify human genes that fight infection
    A research team was able to pinpoint specific human genes that control viral infection. The information sheds new light on factors that lead to severe disease and guides therapeutic options.
  2. Tumor marker may help overcome endocrine treatment-resistant breast cancer
    The study discovered a new approach to select breast cancer patients for HER2 therapy and could help individuals avoid disease relapse or progression of endocrine-sensitive disease.
  3. Scientists identify potential drug candidates for deadly pediatric leukemia
    Two existing drugs—JAK inhibitors and Mepron—show promise for a subtype of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that is more common in children. The drugs are proven safe in humans, which could accelerate clinical studies.
  4. Leprosy drug holds promise as at-home treatment for COVID-19
    Scientists found that the leprosy drug clofazimine, which is FDA approved and on the World Health Organization’s List of Essential Medicines, exhibits potent antiviral activities against SARS-CoV-2, and could become an important weapon against future pandemics.
  5. Researchers dig deeper into how cells transport their waste for recycling
    Research describing how the “trash bags” in a cell—called autophagosomes—are tagged for recycling opened new paths to understand age-related diseases such as cancer and neurological disorders. 
  6. New drug combination shows promise as powerful treatment for AML
    Researchers identified two drugs that are potent against acute myeloid leukemia (AML) when combined, but only weakly effective when used alone. The study provides a scientific rationale for advancing clinical studies of the drug combination. 
  7. Biomarker could help diagnose schizophrenia at an early age
    A study described how elevated levels of a protein called CRMP2—found in the brain and blood—could become a format for a rapid, minimally invasive blood test to support the diagnosis of schizophrenia.
  8. Scientists identify “immune cop” that detects SARS-CoV-2
    Researchers discovered the sensor in human lungs that detects SARS-CoV-2 and signals that it’s time to mount an antiviral attack. The sensor activates interferon, the body’s own frontline defender against viral invasion.
  9. Study finds promising therapeutic target for colitis
    Scientists identified an enzyme in the gut that triggers an inflammatory cascade leading to colitis. Therapeutically targeting the enzyme may be a viable approach to help the millions of people worldwide affected by the disorder.
  10. Scientists shrink pancreatic tumors by starving their cellular “neighbors”
    For the first time, blocking “cell drinking,” or micropinocytosis in the thick tissue surrounding a pancreatic tumor, was shown to slow tumor growth—providing more evidence that micropinocytosis is an important therapeutic target.
Institute News

Laura Martin-Sancho rises to the challenge of COVID-19

AuthorSusan Gammon
Date

June 29, 2021

Laura Martin-Sancho, PhD profile photo

The journal Molecular Cell recently asked Laura Martin-Sancho to share her experience working on SARS-CoV-2 during the pandemic

COVID-19 altered our lives and pushed scientific research to operate at breakneck speed, leading to significant breakthroughs in record time. The journal Molecular Cell recently asked experts in the field—including Laura Martin-Sancho—about the challenges they faced in transitioning, rapidly but safely, to working on the virus while navigating the shutdown. Their voices converge on the importance of teamwork, forging new collaborations, and working toward a shared goal.

Here is what Laura had to say:

I remember learning about viral pandemics in university and thinking about the challenges of working with novel viruses. Of course, we virologists contemplate the idea of a global viral pandemic and we discuss this at length in grants and in research articles, but how do you respond when confronted by it? It all started in February 2020 as I was completing my postdoc studying respiratory viruses. The lab had been closely following the worrying news coming from China and decided to drop everything else and work full time on SARS-CoV-2. Once we received the virus in March, it was a race against the clock to get the right conditions, the right cells, and the right reagents to propagate the virus to high enough amounts to start testing small compounds for antiviral activity. With a starting material of barely 100 μl received from BEI Resources, and long lonely hours in the BSL3, I felt a massive relief when I finally saw that the virus was replicating. Soon after, we had optimized experimental conditions and high enough viral yields to begin the essential experiments.

It was a remarkable feeling to have the whole research institute to just the seven of us. It was just me and three other lab members, our PI, Sumit Chanda, and two members of the institute safety department. With nobody around, it felt like we were apocalyptic survivors racing to find a cure. With a non-stop schedule from 8 am to 10 pm in the lab and trying to play catch up with an everyday-evolving literature, we were barely getting any sleep but never felt so energized. I felt so supported and inspired by my family and friends back home in Spain, which was one of the initial pandemic epicenters in Europe. I felt it was our responsibility to keep going and to make discoveries that could have a meaningful contribution. And so we did. In only a few months, we evaluated thousands of small compounds (initially in collaboration with Hong Kong University, then in house), we identified the innate immune sensor for SARS-CoV-2, and we illuminated the cellular antiviral landscape to SARS-CoV-2. Of course, this wouldn’t have been possible without the expertise and assistance from our countless collaborators across the globe. Indeed, a story to tell my grandkids.

Read the stories from other experts in the field in this article published in Molecular Cell: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2021.05.021

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Hospitals were full. One scientist stepped up.

AuthorMonica May
Date

February 10, 2021

Evan Snyder, MD PhD headshot

Sanford Burnham Prebys physician-scientist Evan Snyder spent two weeks in a gymnasium-turned-ICU, where he cared for people with severe COVID-19

The novel coronavirus has hit California hard, but one area that has been particularly impacted is Imperial County. Last spring, the rural farming region’s two hospitals became overwhelmed with COVID-19 cases—prompting a college basketball stadium to be converted into a makeshift intensive care unit (ICU). Soon, qualified personal were also needed.

Stem cell scientist Evan Snyder, MD, Ph.D., may not be the first person you would think to call on during such an emergency. But as a physician-scientist who works with critically ill newborns, he knows his way around an ICU. He knows how to run ventilators. And perhaps most importantly, he had an urgent desire to help.

“I had already decided I would study this disease from a scientific perspective,” says Snyder, who is working with UC San Diego’s Sandra Leibel, MD, to use “mini lungs” to understand why some people with COVID-19 fare worse than others. “But as I started to see the public health menace it became, I felt like I needed to do more.”

Snyder started to sign up for every volunteer opportunity he could find. However, it wasn’t until the December post-holiday surge in cases when he was deployed to serve in the field. Through the California Medical Assistance Team (CAL-MAT), a group of highly trained medical professionals who provide assistance during disasters, Snyder was deployed to the gym-turned-ICU in Imperial County.

“Although our research examines the impact of the virus on lung cells created from people of many racial and ethnic backgrounds, the degree of disease disparity didn’t hit me at a gut level until this work,” says Snyder. “There’s no question that COVID-19 is unfairly hitting people who are socio-economically challenged and have co-morbidities such as diabetes and hypertension, which are the often the products of a disadvantaged environment.”

“I was like a vampire”

For two weeks Snyder worked through the night, taking down medical histories; giving people oxygen, providing medications such as dexamethasone, remdesivir, anticoagulants and antibiotics; carefully turning people onto their stomachs to ease breathing difficulties or helping individuals walk. He also saw clear patterns emerge.

All of the people he treated had conditions that are linked to poverty. More than 20% of people living in Imperial County live below the poverty line—double the national average. As a result, residents may be more likely to obtain food from food banks and may not have access to regular healthcare—which together can lead to conditions such as diabetes, hypertension or obesity. Many of the people whom Snyder cared for shared that they lived in small quarters with multiple generations, which made quarantining difficult, if not impossible.

“Some people who live in La Jolla and test positive have the luxury of living in a big house. They can afford not to go to work and stay in a separate bedroom while the rest of the family quarantines,” says Snyder. “The people I took care of can’t do that. We need to create places where people who test positive for COVID-19 can quarantine safely away from their families.”

Carrying insights back to the lab

Snyder’s experience has directly informed several new research avenues he plans to pursue.

“We already model real-world COVID-19 infections with ‘mini lungs’ created from different genders and races,” explains Snyder. “But this taught me that we need to better mimic the conditions present in a person who has diabetes or other conditions that create an adverse milieu for their organs and cells.”

This work also imprinted upon him that COVID-19 is more than a lung condition. The risk of blood clots causing strokes, heart attacks or blocking blood flow to the lungs was an ever-present concern.

“It wasn’t just about giving people more oxygen,” says Snyder. “This showed me that we need to focus even more on the vascular and inflammatory components of this disease.”

Lives were saved

Snyder is relieved to report that no lives were lost during those two weeks. He credits the care given—even if relatively primitive—to this success.

“If we weren’t doing what we were doing, about 30% of the people there would have died. And another 30% would have been left with lifelong impairments,” says Snyder. “However, in order to truly tame this virus, we need to find effective drugs, continue to vaccinate as many people as possible and exercise logical public health precautions.”

 

Institute News

Our top 10 discoveries of 2020

AuthorMonica May
Date

December 14, 2020

notebook with Top 10 written at top of page

This year required dedication, patience and perseverance as we all adjusted to a new normal—and we’re proud that our scientists more than rose to the occasion.

Despite the challenges presented by staggered-shift work and remote communications, our researchers continued to produce scientific insights that lay the foundation for achieving cures.

Read on to learn more about our top 10 discoveries of the year—which includes progress in the fight against COVID-19, insights into treating deadly cancers, research that may help children born with a rare condition, and more.

  1. Nature study identifies 21 existing drugs that could treat COVID-19

    Sumit Chanda, PhD, and his team screened one of the world’s largest drug collections to find compounds that can stop the replication of SARS-CoV-2. This heroic effort was documented by the New York Times, the New York Times Magazine, TIME, NPR and additional outlets—and his team continues to work around the clock to advance these potential treatment options for COVID-19 patients.

  2. Fruit flies reveal new insights into space travel’s effect on the heart

    Wife-and-husband team Karen Ocorr, PhD, and Rolf Bodmer, PhD, shared insights that hold implications for NASA’s plan to build a moon colony by 2024 and send astronauts to Mars.

  3. Personalized drug screens could guide treatment for children with brain cancer

    Robert Wechsler-Reya, PhD, and Jessica Rusert, PhD, demonstrated the power of personalized drug screens for medulloblastoma, the most common malignant brain cancer in children.

  4. Preventing pancreatic cancer metastasis by keeping cells “sheltered in place”

    Cosimo Commisso, PhD, identified druggable targets that hold promise as treatments that stop pancreatic cancer’s deadly spread.

  5. Prebiotics help mice fight melanoma by activating anti-tumor immunity

    Ze’ev Ronai, PhD, showed that two prebiotics, mucin and inulin, slowed the growth of melanoma in mice by boosting the immune system’s ability to fight cancer.

  6. New test for rare disease identifies children who may benefit from a simple supplement

    Hudson Freeze, PhD, helped create a test that determines which children with CAD deficiency—a rare metabolic disease—are likely to benefit from receiving a nutritional supplement that has dramatically improved the lives of other children with the condition.

  7. Drug guides stem cells to desired location, improving their ability to heal

    Evan Snyder, MD, PhD, created the first drug that can lure stem cells to damaged tissue and improve treatment efficacy—a major advance for regenerative medicine.

  8. Scientists identify a new drug target for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD)

    Francesca Marassi, PhD, showed that the blood protein vitronectin is a promising drug target for dry age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of vision loss in Americans 60 years of age and older.

  9. Scientists uncover a novel approach to treating Duchenne muscular dystrophy

    Pier Lorenzo Puri, MD, PhD, collaborated with scientists at Fondazione Santa Lucia IRCCS and Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome to show that pharmacological (drug) correction of the content of extracellular vesicles released within dystrophic muscles can restore their ability to regenerate muscle and prevent muscle scarring.

  10. New drug candidate reawakens sleeping HIV in the hopes of a functional cure

    Sumit Chanda, PhD, Nicholas Cosford, PhD, and Lars Pache, PhD, created a next-generation drug called Ciapavir (SBI-0953294) that is effective at reactivating dormant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)—an approach called “shock and kill.”

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What scientists are learning about COVID-19 and the brain

AuthorMonica May
Date

December 8, 2020

Anne Bang, PhD in lab

We caught up with cell biologist Anne Bang, who recently teamed up with her husband to study how SARS-CoV-2 affects the brain

Brain fog. Memory loss. Dizziness and confusion. Although COVID-19 is primarily thought of as a lung disease, survivors continue to report lingering and highly concerning neurological effects—severe enough to impact their ability to work and live normal lives. Doctors are also seeing a worrisome increase in strokes in younger patients, among other observations.

To learn what scientists know so far about COVID-19 and its effect on the brain, we caught up with Anne Bang, PhD, director of Cell Biology at Sanford Burnham Prebys’ Conrad Prebys Center for Chemical Genomics. Bang recently teamed up with scientists at Penn Medicine and a virologist at Scripps Research—who also happens to be her husband—to investigate whether SARS-CoV-2 infects brain cells. Their findings were published in Cell Stem Cell.

What do scientists know about the brain and COVID-19 so far?

Unfortunately, information is still very limited. There are reports of viral replication in the brain and spinal cord fluid of people with COVID-19 who have neurological symptoms. But as you can imagine, taking brain biopsies from someone who has COVID-19 is not realistic. So we really don’t know a lot yet. For this reason, scientists are turning to systems that can model the human brain, such as brain cells created from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and brain organoids, to study SARS-CoV-2’s impact on the brain.

What did you find in your study?

We created several types of brain cells using iPSCs and brain organoids, which we then infected with SARS-CoV-2. We found that SARS-CoV-2 primarily infects a brain cell type called choroid plexus cells—largely bypassing neurons and astrocytes. The choroid plexus is a specialized part of the blood-brain barrier, which controls what can enter your brain and produces cerebral spinal fluid. More research emerges every day, but so far, the consensus in the field seems to align with our findings.

SARS_CoV2_ Infected human choroid plexus cells a type of brain cell

The scientists found that SARS-CoV-2 (red) primarily infects brain cells called choroid plexus cells (blue), which are part of the brain’s protective blood-brain barrier.

How might this finding translate to what we’re seeing in patients?

We know that choroid plexus cells produce high levels of ACE2, which is the receptor that SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter and infect cells. Because the choroid plexus is the “gatekeeper” to the brain, it’s possible that the virus enters the brain by infecting these cells. However, much more research is needed before we can give a definitive answer to this question.

We have more questions than answers right now about COVID-19. What is one question you wish we had the answer to?

How does the virus get from the nose and mouth and spread to other parts of the body? This is a big question for me and the scientific field. Once we know how the virus travels throughout the body, we can potentially stop its spread and control the dangerous symptoms.

What was it like working with your husband? Was this your first time working together?

It was really fun. I found out that he is great to work with. We’ve been together for 30 years, and incredibly, this was the first time we worked together.

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COVID-19 vaccines: Our experts weigh in on the historic news

AuthorMonica May
Date

November 13, 2020

Coronavirus floating with antibodies - 3D illustration

There are now two experimental vaccines for COVID-19 that are more than 90% effective—a remarkable development that has made the world collectively exhale. We caught up with our leading COVID-19 researchers to get their take on the update—including whether we are “out of the woods” and where they were when they heard the news.

Sumit Chanda, PhD, virologist
I was at work, obsessively refreshing my browser to follow the election results when the first press release about the Pfizer vaccine popped up. When I heard 90% efficacy, I was super excited. I had sort of a sigh of relief. Then I read the fine print, and I started to have more guarded optimism. I’m not popping the champagne yet. But I’m putting it on ice.

The 90% measurement was taken starting only one week after the second booster shot. That’s not a lot of time, and with a pretty small number of people. What I am really looking for is how many people are protected two months and six months after the booster shot. That’s when I’m going to get really excited. We know that 90% is the ceiling, now we need to know where the floor is. Even if efficacy drops from 90 to 70%, that is still really great.

This is also why we will likely need multiple vaccines, and with different mechanisms of protection. This vaccine also has to be kept at -70 degrees Celsius, which presents a logistical challenge to say the least. Most doctor’s offices don’t have this type of specialized equipment, not to mention rural areas or less developed countries.

Today’s news that the Moderna vaccine is at least as effective as Pfizer’s is equally great news. However, we are still going to need antivirals. Between people who may not respond to these vaccines, can’t get the vaccines, or simply don’t want to take them, there is still going to be a lot of people who catch COVID-19. Luckily there are some antiviral options that are looking really good, including an antibody from Lilly that just got Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA.

With all this said, this is unequivocally good news. I am optimistic that we will have several vaccines that are usable in the next couple months. But for now, we need to mask up and keep social distancing.

Step inside Sumit Chanda’s lab where he and his colleagues are racing to find a potential treatment for COVID-19.

Carl Ware, PhD, immunologist and clinical trial participant

I first heard the news about the Pfizer vaccine on the radio when I was listening to KPBS’ surf report (Scott Bass is a poet). As an immunologist studying coronaviruses and a volunteer in the Moderna vaccine trial, I’m following all of the results closely. I immediately turned the volume up.

NBC San Diego spoke with Dr. Carl Ware about his experience participating in a clinical trial testing Moderna’s vaccine for COVID-19.

The news is very encouraging, and certainly shines a brighter light at the end of the proverbial tunnel. 90% effectiveness is very impressive. My excitement is mostly based upon earlier trial results showing that the vaccines are safe and effective in stimulating the immune system. However, those trials only involved several hundred people in comparison to the tens of thousands of volunteers in the latest results, so these developments are very encouraging. It gives us a much better understanding of how the vaccine may work in the general population. 

However, questions will need to be answered about the efficacy in people over the age of 65 and other susceptible populations, the longevity of immunity, and long-term safety. Fortunately, these results will be scrutinized by scientists that are the best in the world. I have full confidence in their analysis.  

The effort to make a vaccine so quickly is truly an outstanding accomplishment. It’s not a race to be first, but first to stop the virus. This war against an unseen enemy will require multiple strategies to truly end this pandemic. Right now I am keeping an eye out for data that shows the long-term protection of these vaccines, and looking forward to results from my colleague Sumit Chanda, who has been racing to find existing drugs that could treat people who do become sick with COVID-19.

Laura Martin-Sancho, PhD, virologist

I learned about the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine news last Monday morning. I had just woken up and was enjoying a cup of coffee when I read the press release. Here, they reported the results to date of their vaccine clinical trial showing 90% protection from COVID-19 infection. I felt very happy and very hopeful. Being from Spain, one of the countries that has been most affected by COVID-19, and having all my family over there, I felt this was the news we all have been waiting for a long time.

While this 90% might not hold by the end of the trial as more cases are reported, it still brings a lot of hope. Especially since many vaccines currently under clinical trials, including Moderna’s, use a similar approach. So we have even more reasons to be optimistic.

Future challenges for these vaccines will be to determine if they can prevent transmission from asymptomatic people with COVID-19. As clinical trial participants were not tested for COVID-19 throughout the study, and only symptomatic cases were reported, the question remains as to whether vaccinated people can still transmit the disease.

We also still don’t know how long the protection elicited by the vaccine lasts, which will determine whether and how frequently we will need a vaccine boost. In addition, more data are needed to evaluate if these vaccines can protect against severe COVID-19 or whether different age groups or ethnicities are protected. Only time will tell.

Meet the scientists on the front lines with coronavirus, including Dr. Martin-Sancho.

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COVID-19: Renowned scientist enters clinical trial

AuthorSusan Gammon
Date

September 17, 2020

Carl Ware getting vaccinated

Meet Carl Ware, PhD, director of the Infectious and Inflammatory Disease Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys. After a career of studying how viruses wreak havoc on our health, he now becomes a “subject” in a COVID-19 clinical trial. 

What inspired you to enroll in a COVID-19 clinical trial?
I’m an immunologist working on coronaviruses. I understand the science of vaccines and the protection provided against infections. I also know how important clinical trials are to developing safe and effective vaccines. I trust the science, so I stepped up to volunteer for the vaccine trial. Who better than an immunologist to be part of this grand experiment? 

Are you nervous? 
Excited is more accurate.

Do you know which vaccine you’re getting?
Yes, the RNA-based vaccine by Moderna. It’s not a live virus! The vaccine uses a small part of the virus that allows the virus to attach to lung cells. To cause disease, a virus must replicate inside a cell. The infected cell dies, releasing large numbers of new viruses. The progeny virus infects more lung cells, producing more virus that reaches levels that are easily spread to other people. The vaccine stimulates the immune system to block the virus from entering and replicating in the lung cells, stopping the infection and spread to other persons.

How many people are in the trial?
About 30,000 people will participate. The volunteers are placed into two groups receiving either the vaccine or a placebo. The study is “blinded,” so I don’t know which group I’m in, but I’m hoping it’s not the placebo group. The preliminary tests of this new vaccine indicate it is safe and stimulates the immune system. However, proof of safety and effectiveness requires a large number of volunteers. More volunteers are needed to complete the goal of 30,000. 

How will you be evaluated during the trial? 
Following the first injection, I will report my symptoms every night for a week using a simple, very cool app on my cell phone. A month later, I will receive a booster and follow the same procedure with the phone app. I have two more visits to the site at six months and a year to determine if the vaccine stimulated long-lasting immunity.

How will it be determined if the vaccine works?
All sorts of tests will be used to measure the response of my immune system. No worries, volunteers in the trial will not be infected with the virus!

The trial is open to anyone who wants to participate, especially those persons most vulnerable, with serious diseases; front-line and essential workers; those over 65, Black and Latinx persons, and people with other health risks. There are several test centers around the San Diego area. More information on volunteering is at eStudySite.
 

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Dinah Conyers Ruch: The power of investing in human health

AuthorDinah Conyers Ruch
Date

June 24, 2020

Dinah Ruch photo

Long-time supporter Dinah Conyers Ruch discusses the impact of giving to biomedical research—especially COVID-19 efforts—and the importance of investing in human health. 

How were you introduced to Sanford Burnham Prebys?  
My grandson John, whom we called “Rocket,” was born with a rare disease known as CDG, or Congenital Disorders of Glycosylation. Our doctors were able to quickly diagnose this disease thanks to CDG expert Hudson Freeze at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. Dr. Freeze works closely with the families of children impacted by rare diseases like CDG and has now become a lifelong friend. Though we weren’t able to save Rocket, we have kept his legacy alive by supporting Dr. Freeze through a fund that continues to study this disease and fight for a cure. 

What about the Institute’s mission compels you to keep giving? 
Over ten years ago, our family’s experience with Rocket showed us the promise and power of science to understand and improve human health. Today, we continue to be inspired by the dedication and passion of the scientists who devote their careers to often neglected diseases like CDG, which impacts thousands of children worldwide. When I started to hear about COVID-19 earlier this year, another intractable disease, I initially felt powerless. Then I started to receive emails from the Institute about the efforts underway to study the virus, and I knew I wanted to do something immediately. Private philanthropy can be a powerful catalyst for change and progress especially when you have trusted partners like the scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys.  

What inspired you to give to Dr. Sumit Chanda’s research? 
Dr. Chanda’s efforts to understand and find treatments for COVID-19 are essential not just in the short-term but also well into the future. When I learned about the drug repositioning strategy, which involved screening more than 12,000 approved drugs, I understood that this research could save time, money and, most important of all, lives. Dr. Chanda shared his larger vision too, which includes expanded research capacity, multiple scientific leaders, and strategic partners from across the globe. This excited me. This is a vision that is responsive and forward-looking and it confirmed my interest in boosting the efforts through philanthropy. 

Why should someone else give back to pandemic research? 
Put simply, the need couldn’t be greater. The pandemic has changed American life so quickly. The devastating effects of COVID-19 go beyond our health and include rampant unemployment, economic uncertainty and broken social safety nets. Investing in therapies now can improve not just our human health but also our societal outlook. Scientists at the Institute have long led the path from research to power a cure. I have seen it firsthand. And I am more confident than ever that the COVID-19 research today will lead to greater health tomorrow. I hope others will join me in supporting this important work. 

Join Dinah

Join Dinah in supporting COVID-19 research at Sanford Burnham Prebys through our first-of-its-kind matching gift opportunity—which doubles all donations dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000. For more information contact Rachael McCabe at rmccabe@sbpdiscovery.org or make a gift online. 

Double your gift today