The San Antonio Partnership for the
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Starting in 2012, four of San Antonio’s leading research institutions have been working together to advance vaccine discovery, development, and advocacy.
Vision | Creating a healthier world through the development of advanced vaccines against current and emerging diseases. |
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| Emerging disease and pandemics happen. Although we can’t predict the future, The Vaccine Development Center of San Antonio can provide continuity and infrastructure to assure that researchers have a strong scientific foothold, allowing them to pivot and meet the next challenge from life-threatening and life-changing disease. More importantly, the Center fosters community among researchers so they don’t have to meet these challenges alone. |
| Transforming competition into collaboration.You never know where the best solutions – or the best questions – will come from. We bring together the best and the brightest to work on vaccines from A (antigens, adjuvants, antibodies) to V (vectors, variants, vaccination) and everything in between. The Vaccine Development Center of San Antonio provides a virtual center and annual conference to uncover innovative answers, contemplate provocative questions and bring together science champions to identify those crazy ideas that just might work. We also work to introduce our champions to the San Antonio community. As advocates, they demystify current vaccines and treatments, and share new scientific findings that can enhance well-being of the San Antonio community. |
VDCoSA
The Vaccine Development Center of San Antonio serves as an innovation hub to support researchers’ efforts to create high-potency vaccines against current and emerging diseases and to improve the development of vaccine platforms and technologies. The Center works to bring academics together for scholarly dialogue about infectious diseases, immunity, and vaccines, as well as provide the opportunity for researchers to share new scientific findings that can enhance the safety and well-being of the San Antonio community. In the words of VDCoSA’s founding executive director, Ken Trevett, “Science is a team effort. This Center is built on the extraordinary power of people working together.”
The Vaccine Development Center of San Antonio: Builds and supports multi-institutional research teams for over a decade; Recognizes that preparedness is an ongoing and shared goal; Changes the culture of competition to one of collaboration and community; and Shares data and believes that vaccines save lives.
Our Objectives
The Vaccine Development Center of San Antonio brings Southwest Research Institute, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, UT-Health at San Antonio, and the University of Texas at San Antonio to advance vaccine innovation. To create a vibrant innovation hub we: | |
| Fund and supportthe development of pilot projects to advance vaccine technology undertaken by researchers at two or more of the collaborating institutions | |
| Sponsor an annual symposium on infection, immunity and vaccines with keynote speakers selected from internationally recognized researchers | |
| Promote vaccinations at a local and regional level to mitigate or eliminate disease outbreaks |
For More Information Contact Tracey Baas, VDCoSA Manager, tbaas@txbiomed.org or 210-258-9600
News
| Texas Biomed and partners discover new, potent COVID-19 antibody cocktail Researchers at Texas Biomed and University of Alabama at Birmingham discovered an antibody cocktail against COVID-19 that appears effective against all variants and other coronaviruses. The cocktail has been exclusively licensed to Aridis Pharmaceuticals, which is seeking a manufacturing partner to advance the treatment to human clinical trials. |
| UTSA receives $6.8M in NIH funding to establish research center targeting valley fever Mycology and immunology researchers from The University of Texas at San Antonio have been selected to receive a five-year, $6.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a San Antonio-based Coccidioidomycosis Collaborative Research Center (SA-CCRC) focused on developing therapeutics and vaccines against coccidioidomycosis. This highly interactive, interdisciplinary research hub will support the collaborative efforts of investigators from UTSA and UT Health San Antonio. |
| Can HIV infection be prevented? The first mRNA vaccine study for HIV in San Antonio’s history is underway. The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and clinical partner University Health soon will begin a Phase 1 clinical research study of an HIV vaccine candidate produced by Moderna. This will be San Antonio’s first-ever study of an mRNA HIV vaccine |
| Researchers win an $18 million contract to develop a tularemia vaccine to protect military Southwest Research Institute, The University of Texas at San Antonio, and Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute has received an $18 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Defense Threat Reduction Agency to collaboratively develop a protective vaccine against Francisella tularensis, the bacterium that causes tularemia. The researchers aim to develop a vaccine formulation that protects humans for up to one year. |
Events
Register Now! Abstracts are being accepted for posters and rapid-fire talks until Tuesday, November 1st at Noon. The 10th annual VDCoSA Conference will take place at UTSA’s Downtown Campus Thursday, November 10, 2022. Hope to see you there! More information can also be found at our event site.
Request for Proposals
There are no active requests for proposals at this time. Please check back later.