SLU working on Coronavirus Vaccine

[Clock_Tower]

https://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/news/2020/03/12/meet-the-slu-department-on-the-frontlines-of.html?b=1584013271^21634720
 

A SLU degree not only helps you get admitted to a graduate program/school or your first job... but also a little pride... to know your alma mater is 1 of 9 medical research centers working on a vaccine. 

Proud to “Be a Billiken”

[Old guy]

Thank you Clock, it  is really exiting (for me) to know that  SLU is one of 9 centers in the US funded by the NIH that deals with vaccine development. This is really important and advanced work. All the best to them.

[cgeldmacher]

SLU has been one of the top vaccine research universities in the nation for about 25 years.  There have been times where the grants received by our vaccine doctors made up more than half of all the grants received by the university.  Many of the vaccines used widely every year in the US were either developed or tested at SLU.

[Clock_Tower]

4 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

SLU has been one of the top vaccine research universities in the nation for about 25 years.  There have been times where the grants received by our vaccine doctors made up more than half of all the grants received by the university.  Many of the vaccines used widely every year in the US were either developed or tested at SLU.

Yes.  My neighbor is a physician who works there.  Have talked to her in detail since last Fall but I believe she had last been working on tests involving malaria and other such Third World diseases. 

[cgeldmacher]

My mother is retired now, but she was a nurse that worked in that department for decades.  They don't just develop the vaccines, they also develop better delivery methods.  SLU was one of the leaders, if not the actual developer, of the nasal mist delivery method for the flu vaccine.

[crymdg2]

19 hours ago, cgeldmacher said:

My mother is retired now, but she was a nurse that worked in that department for decades.  They don't just develop the vaccines, they also develop better delivery methods.  SLU was one of the leaders, if not the actual developer, of the nasal mist delivery method for the flu vaccine.

I can attribute a good portion of my college spending money to her and those vaccine trials

[NextYearBill]

1 minute ago, crymdg2 said:

I can attribute a good portion of my college spending money to her and those vaccine trials

dude..... why didnt i know this

[cgeldmacher]

4 hours ago, crymdg2 said:

I can attribute a good portion of my college spending money to her and those vaccine trials

I did the same thing.  They used to give you like $50 for the first visit, then $20 or $25 every time you had to come back.  My mom used me as a recruiter on campus.  Not a hard sell to college kids needing money.

[billikenfan05]

13 minutes ago, cgeldmacher said:

I did the same thing.  They used to give you like $50 for the first visit, then $20 or $25 every time you had to come back.  My mom used me as a recruiter on campus.  Not a hard sell to college kids needing money.

I had too many allergies to medications. Shame

[Spoon-Balls]

The funny thing about vaccine research is that it's not incredibly "lucrative" in the sense that while it certainly brings in some amount of federal funding, it doesn't generate a whole lot of extra dollars for institutions in general, since there's a lot of financial risk involved due to the inherent trial and error development process. It's certainly not profitable for companies, not like running clinical trials for new heart disease pharmaceuticals or anti-cancer drugs. While those things are important in their own respects, I feel like vaccine and antibiotic research has really been dumped to the wayside by a lot of big name medical institutions across the country because vaccine development doesn't really generate enough revenue for their burgeoning research departments. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/02/opinion/contributors/pharma-vaccines.html

Good on SLU for truly being an institution working for the "Greater Good." This pandemic has really highlighted just how critical vaccine research is for our future. 

[Spoon-Balls]

On 3/25/2020 at 12:46 PM, cgeldmacher said:

SLU has been one of the top vaccine research universities in the nation for about 25 years.  There have been times where the grants received by our vaccine doctors made up more than half of all the grants received by the university.  Many of the vaccines used widely every year in the US were either developed or tested at SLU.

Funny that local media hasn't really been giving SLU the attention it deserves in this regard over the past few weeks. While I hate having the "little stepbrother" attitude towards our neighbor institution down the road, vaccines and viral research is the one area where SLU as an institution truly excels.