IBT in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Brandon Dekosky, at the University of Kansas, and Dr. Tom Geisbert laboratory and University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) receive a collaborative SBIR grant from NIH, entitled Mining natively paired macaque antibodies for Marburg virus protective antibodies.

Marburg virus has caused highly lethal outbreaks in the last few decades.  Currently there is a paucity of immunotherapeutic options in the pipeline for treatment of this deadly diseases.  Under this grant IBT investigator Dr. Shweta Kailasan with work with Dr. Dekosky’s team to develop novel monoclonal antibodies using a new method for identification of natively paired heavy and light chains from B cells of macaques immunized with IBT’s proprietary vaccine candidates. These antibodies will be tested in rodents at UTMB to select lead therapeutic candidates.