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Coronavirus Vaccine and the Research Revolution

Re-Construction.US

English - January 02, 2021 15:00 - 45 minutes - 31.4 MB
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It’s January, and people all over the world are celebrating the end of the year 2020.  It was harrowing for so many reasons, not the least of which was our year with the Coronavirus.  Thousands of American families who have lost loved ones and millions lost their jobs too. But there is hope on the horizon as millions of Americans have started receiving the new vaccines.  Three options have already been released and a fourth is on it’s way.

The speed with which our scientific community has identified the virus and developed these vaccines is unprecedented.  Never before have researchers been able to conduct thousands of tests in such a short period of time.  In fact, it may be that the biggest impact over the long term will be the revolution in research science that made this unprecedented speed possible.

Today’s Guest, Dr. Thomas Hartung is the Director of the Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing (CAAT), a laboratory for developmental neurotoxicity research based on genomics and metabolomics at Johns Hopkins University.  Hartung has been leading a movement within the world of research to move away from animal testing and utilize new technologies that can save millions of dollars and lead to faster testing with more accurate results.  I’ve asked him to join me today to share his insights on this revolution in a field that has been highly reliant on old methodologies.

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