TXBiobytes from Texas Biomed

Helen Lee Breton is a researcher who works in Dr. Chen's lab.

Scientists at Texas Biomed are using CRISPR technology to try to create a new animal model for liver cancer. Liver cancer can have its roots in infectious diseases or metabolic conditions. And it’s a killer worldwide.

Promising therapies developed in mouse models have failed in humans. So the experts at the Southwest National Primate Research Center think a bigger animal like a monkey might work better.

The Southwest National Primate Research Center at Texas Biomed is home to more than a thousand of these Old World monkeys.

CRISPR came on to the scientific scene in 2012. Christopher Chen, Ph.D., says it’s really making a huge impact in labs around the country.

Tom Slick, Jr., is the founder of Texas Biomed

The founder of Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Tom Slick, was a man of great vision and curiosity. His niece, Catherine Nixon Cooke, wrote a fascinating book about him title Tom Slick Mystery Hunter.

We talked with Cooke about her uncle who lived some larger-than-life adventures and planted to seeds of scientific research in San Antonio that has yielded many breakthroughs in diagnostics, therapies and vaccines.

Cooke says Tom Slick would have been delighted at what his vision in the early 40s has become in 2018.

Developing vaccines and therapies to successfully treat some of the world’s deadliest diseases for which there are no known treatments or vaccines requires the safest laboratory in the world in which to study them. Texas Biomedical Research Institute is home to one of only six such labs in North America and the only operational BSL-4 lab owned by a private institution.

Designed for maximum containment, BSL-4 labs offer a safe setting for scientists and the surrounding environment. This unique resource has allowed scientists in Texas Biomed’s Department of Virology and Immunology to become world leaders in the fight against emerging diseases and bioterror agents, such as SARS, Anthrax, Ebola virus and more.

Our Biosafety Level 3 lab works on contagious pathogens that are treatable, but contagious. Right now, scientists are focusing on findings new treatments and vaccines for Mycobacterium tuberulosois (M.tb) which causes tuberculosis, one of the world's deadliest infectious diseases.

Grandmother is portrayed as the big bad wolf in a whooping cough vaccine PSA.

A killer infectious disease called Pertussis is a bacterial infection that causes whooping cough. Vaccines had brought the numbers of cases down dramatically, but now they’re on the rise again and Texas Biomed animals and scientists are involved in the search for something better to treat this health problem that kills more than a hundred thousand infants a year.

Pertussis has seen an alarming resurgence in the last decade. That’s surprising, given that a vaccine for this infectious disease has existed since the 1930s. The original vaccine, made with whole-cell killed Bordetella pertussis bacteria, was very effective but associated with some adverse events. A newer acellular pertussis vaccine with fewer adverse events was approved by the FDA in 1997. Recent epidemiological studies have found, however, that the immunity conferred by the new vaccine wears out during adolescence. That’s a problem, because although whooping cough isn’t fatal to adults, adults whose immunity has waned can carry and transmit the disease to infants, for whom it is frequently fatal. Infants typically receive antibodies from their mothers, but if the mother is not immune to pertussis, she cannot pass on immunity to the infant — thus putting the infant at risk of infection. And although the pertussis bacteria can be killed with antibiotics, the toxins released by the bacteria have done irreparable damage to the lung by the time the infant develops whooping cough. A current but imperfect strategy to protect infants is “cocooning” — that is, vaccinating anyone who might come into contact with the infant, including parents, siblings, grandparents, babysitters, and the like.

Nevertheless, the loss of pertussis immunity in the population as a whole, combined with the fact that many parents now choose not to vaccinate their children, has caused pertussis to become one of the largest preventable causes of death due to infectious disease worldwide in infants. To address this problem, researchers have been working to develop an improved pertussis vaccine. Some of these new strategies are now ready for pre-clinical testing, which is required by the FDA before moving forward with human clinical trials.

Baboons at SNPRC are models for pertussis vaccine research.

“It turns out the baboon is the perfect model for pre-clinical testing, because it is the only animal that mimics humans in that infant baboons develop a persistent cough when exposed to pertussis,” explained Robert Lanford, Ph.D., Director of the Southwest Primate Research Center (SNPRC). SNPRC is one of seven NIH-funded primate research centers across the country, and the only one that houses a colony of baboons. It is thus in a unique position to advance pertussis vaccine research at this critical stage. Working with the FDA and pharmaceutical companies, Lanford’s team is using the baboon model for testing new approaches to improving the acellular vaccine. Some of these new approaches use novel adjuvants (compounds designed to enhance immunity to vaccines) that can be used in combination with the existing acellular pertussis vaccine.

Photo Courtesy healthcautions.com

“The fastest way to get a better vaccine is not to make a new vaccine, because it takes decades to get a new vaccine approved; it is to enhance one that we already know is safe,” Dr. Lanford said. Of course, this isn’t guaranteed to work, so some research groups are taking different approaches and attempting to develop a new vaccine from scratch, he added. The goal is to produce data that will be used by the FDA to evaluate the potential effectiveness of the new vaccine and to decide if it can move forward to testing in human clinical trials, explained Dr. Lanford. It is usually a multi-year process. “Drugs that look most promising at first can run into safety problems,” Dr. Lanford explained. “It’s hard to predict which one will get through all three phases of human clinical trials — that’s why we need to work on multiple different approaches simultaneously.”

A baby rhesus macaque basks in the sunshine with its mother.

Rhesus macaque monkeys are nonhuman primates that originate from the jungles of India. Hundreds of them live at the Southwest National Primate Research Center on the Texas Biomedical Research Institute campus.

Macaques are useful for studying diseases from HIV to Ebola.

While the macaques live in indoor/outdoor housing, the scientific work performed on their samples takes place in a lab setting.

Hundreds of rhesus macaque monkeys are housed at the Southwest National Primate Research Center.

The Texas Biomedical Forum started in 1970 as a group of women on a mission – to support the hope and promise of life-saving research at Texas Biomedical Research Institute.

What started as the brainchild of a handful of women has turned into an organization that is more than 300 members strong. The Forum raises hundreds of thousands of dollars each year in support of the science at Texas Biomed.

From left to right: Jody Lutz, Tena Gorman, Ruth Eilene Sullivan, Courtney Percy

The purpose of the Texas Biomedical Forum continues to be to support the Texas Biomedical Research Institute through community relations,volunteer services and fundraising.

The Forum hosts student tours of the 200-acre Texas BioMed campus for a handful of high school science programs each year. These tours of San Antonio’s biomedical research jewel expose these bright young students to the exciting possibilities of a career in science. The student tours are a fantastic opportunity for area high school students, and a rewarding experience for Forum volunteers.

For the past 21 years, the Texas Biomedical Forum and the V.H. McNutt Memorial Foundation have joined forces for the Science Education Awards. Local public and private high school teachers are invited to participate. The awards are given to the top six teachers whose proposals demonstrate the strongest commitment to the scientific process and the further development of progressive science education programs.

The Forum’s commitment to educating its membership and the community about Texas Biomed’s research is highlighted at the fall and spring Lecture Luncheon events featuring Texas Biomed scientists discussing timely research topics. Held at The Argyle, the lectures inform members and guests about innovative medical topics and the cutting-edge research taking place at Texas Biomed and its positive impact on human health. All Forum members as well as guests are invited to participate in these educational events.

The Forum in partnership with Texas Biomed hosts a Roundtable Discussions evening event annually at The Argyle. These events feature the work being done by a handful of the Texas BioMed research scientists. Attendees are afforded the incredible opportunity of sitting alongside a scientist with the ability to ask questions regarding their current project. This is truly a unique experience where anyone can learn about the exciting research that in ongoing at Texas BioMed in a congenial environment. Forum members and guests are welcome to attend.

The first Saturday in May annually marks the occasion of the Forum Gala. One of the most sought after event gala tickets in the city. This is the primary fundraising tool of the Forum.

Every summer, the Forum presents Texas Biomed with a sizable check from that year’s Gala proceeds. These funds are then distributed to select scientists in support of their research needs. The Forum sponsors a series of one-year pilot projects that can lead to subsequent and often significant federal research funding. Over the last sixteen years, the Forum has provided over $3 million. The results of those pilot studies has generated an additional $60 million in grant funding for Texas Biomed. The impact of the Forum’s fundraising efforts through the Gala and Forum Grants is a valuable component in furthering Texas Biomed’s mission of enhancing lives through research.

© Clem Spalding Photography

The baboon is widely used as a model for the study of genetics of complex diseases, and continues as a successful model for many chronic and infectious diseases, including insulin resistance, obesity, heart disease, hypertension and osteoporosis. This resource has also been used to further studies in contraception, tissue engineered heart valves, epilepsy, immune system aging, pertussis, sepsis and ischemic stroke.

SNPRC provides pedigreed baboons for research projects investigating the etiology and pathogenesis of human disease. We have developed and refined the baboon model for biomedical research through selective breeding, inbreeding, environmental manipulations and identifying naturally occurring conditions.

Our pedigreed baboon colony was established in 1972 with 200 feral baboons. Today, SNPRC is home to the world’s largest baboon colony, including about 1,100 animals. The structure of the pedigreed baboon colony has been developed carefully over seven generations of baboons. Because of the complex genetic structure of the colony, animals from this population are uniquely suited to genetic research on normal and disease-associated traits.

Most of the animals in the pedigreed colony have been genotyped, and we’ve used that information to create the first genetic linkage map of any nonhuman primate. Together, the pedigreed colony and the baboon gene map give scientists an incredibly powerful research tool. It helps to locate the underlying genes that lead to natural susceptibility to or protection from a variety of diseases.

More than 100 male baboons live in a six acre corral at the Southwest National Primate Research Center.

The Southwest National Primate Research Center at Texas Biomedical Research Center is one of only two national primate research centers that provide marmoset research resources. Our resources include the only large population (>70) of aged marmosets (>10 years) in the country.

Common marmosets have been a biomedical research resource since the early 1960’s, used predominately in studies of infectious disease, immunology and neuroscience.  Historically, they have been a more commonly used research model in Europe and Japan than in the United States. However, cellular and molecular resources have recently been developed that greatly enhance the value of marmosets in research and have increased interest here in the United States.

As a non-endangered anthropoid primate with small size, the highest fertility and the shortest life span, marmosets also offer a remarkably cost-effective, high efficiency nonhuman primate model for biomedical research. In addition, many areas of research take advantage of unique features of its biology for application to human disease.

They’re closely related to humans, but marmosets also have unique features that make them particularly valuable for certain types of studies. For example, marmosets have small body size, usually produce dizygotic twins, mature quickly, have the highest fertility of any anthropoid primate and have a short life span.

Our marmoset resources have achieved notable accomplishments in genomics, regenerative medicine, obesity, aging and reproduction research.

© Clem Spalding 210-271-7273

Dr. Mark Gorelik holds a mouse bred to have symptoms of Kawasaki disease.

Kawasaki disease is a rare childhood illness that can cause serious heart trouble for patients later in life. Now, Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Children's Hospital of San Antonio are teaming up to research possible interventions to cut down on the serious side effects of the disease.

Dr. Mark Gorelik is a pediatric rheumatologist. He uses a mouse model now housed at Texas Biomed. Jean Patterson, Ph.D., is helping him on the project.

Listen to learn more about this exciting collaborative project.

Having trained veterinarians taking care of animals at Texas Biomed made it a good fit for the Kawasaki research project.

Winka Le Clec'h, Ph.D., Tim Anderson, Ph.D., and Frederic Chevalier research schistosomiasis at Texas Biomed.

Schistosomiasis is an important tropical disease caused by schistosome trematodes (a parasitic blood fluke). Those parasites are found in South America and the Caribbean, sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. An estimated 200 million people worldwide are infected with schistosomes and 200,000 people die each year. Schistosomiasis is a waterborne disease. Infected freshwater snails release larvae (cercariae) which can infect humans during their water related activities.

Only one drug – praziquantel – is currently available to treat patients but drug resistance starts to emerge. Vaccines have been designed in laboratory but have never conferred decent level of protection to people in the field. Therefore new approaches are needed to identify drug targets, understand drug resistance, predict vaccine efficacy by understanding parasite population diversity and identify potential vaccine candidates.

More than 6,000 snails used for research are housed at Texas Biomed.

The Texas Biomed schistosomiasis lab has pioneered the use of genetic crosses between schistosomes in the laboratory for identifying the genetic basis of biomedically important parasite traits. Scientists have used this approach, together with exome sequencing, to identify the precise mutations that underlie oxamniquine resistance, and are now applying the same approach to understand praziquantel resistance, host specificity, parasite virulence, and multiple other important biomedical traits.

High speed data processing in the Genomics Computing Center make this research possible.