UTMB researchers receive over $6 million to develop treatment for deadly Ebola and Marburg viruses

GALVESTON, Texas — University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers continue to lead the way in infectious disease research. Virologist Alex Bukreyev, professor of pathology at UTMB, has been awarded two National Institutes of Health grants and a U.S. Department of Defense grant totaling more than $6 million to develop experimental drugs against both Ebola and Marburg viruses. Each funded study involves collaborations among teams with different areas of expertise led by Christopher Basler, professor of microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

The filoviruses Ebola and Marburg cause the most severe hemorrhagic fever known, with a mortality rate of up to 90 percent. With no approved vaccines or treatments, they are highly infectious. Both viruses potentially could be manipulated and used as weapons in acts of bioterrorism. The current deadly Ebola outbreak in Western Africa has resulted in more than 1,000 infections and more than 600 deaths, making it the largest outbreak ever of the deadly virus.

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