Colorado State University’s contributions to developing solutions to the COVID-19 pandemic have earned it a spot on a ranking of the top 10 universities engaged in this important research, according to the website successfulstudent.org.

In an article published Aug. 3, the site spotlighted the key role CSU’s Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology is playing in vaccine research. Among the 25 COVID-related projects underway, from studying the plasma of those recovered from the virus to using individually approved treatments in cocktail form, the site highlighted two vaccine investigations.

Gregg Dean, head of the department, is leading a research team using a genetically modified form of the common probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus to avert infection, while Professor Mary Jackson is exploring adapting the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin or BCG vaccine to fight the novel coronavirus.

Other schools included in the ranking are Harvard University Medical School, Oxford University, The Eli & Edythe Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Johns Hopkins University, and the universities of Georgia, Michigan, Montana, Pittsburgh, and Wisconsin-Madison.

“This is a phenomenal acknowledgment for our research community and speaks to the passion and accomplishments of our research faculty, staff and students across all of campus,” CSU Vice President for Research Alan Rudolph wrote in a message to faculty on Aug. 7. “This recognition is worthy of comment as it not only reflects our deep interdisciplinary and collaborative research expertise in infectious disease and public health but is a reflection of strategic initiatives set up that prepared us to move quickly in response.”

An overview of CSU’s pandemic research and response can be found at this SOURCE page, Life in the Time of Corona.