Research
Becoming a world leader in biopreparedness also meant becoming a world leader in biopreparedness research.
The GCHS has laser-focused existing work by our leading scientists in fields like chemical weapons, drug discovery and public health. We’ve taken advantage of unique opportunities offered by access to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit and its world-class team. And we’ve established valuable partnerships with other world leaders and the U.S. military.
Through our partnerships and preparation, the Global Center for Health Security is forging advances in biopreparedness and in moving critical, life-saving discoveries out of the lab and into clinical trials.
Our Research Capabilities
Our capabilities include a relationship with the U.S. military for research into chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threat.
We offer wide-ranging health security research programs:
- Special pathogens
- A drug development pipeline
- Staphylococcal infections
- Biopreparedness
- Bioinformatic
We are using our expertise to fight Highly Hazardous Communicable Diseases where they start and save lives around the world and at home. The Global Center for Health Security is creating a network to prepare for and respond to high-consequence infections. This work includes a clinical trials network and rapid exchange of information during international pandemics, as well as improving the treatment and survival of sepsis in African and Asia. We work together on numerous biopreparedness research efforts, from basic science to safe air evacuations – including the evaluation of the United States Air Mobility Command's Transport Isolation System.
Projects
CCPSEI
Drs. David Brett-Major and Jana Broadhurst established the first COVID-19 patient cohort and specimen bank in the U.S. under the Clinical Characterization Protocol for Severe Emerging Infections (CCPSEI). This in-depth prospective study of the clinical features of COVID-19 will lead to a better, more comprehensive understanding of the disease. Working together with specialty groups across UNMC/Nebraska Medicine, the CCPSEI study has facilitated diverse COVID-19 clinical research efforts interrogating risk factors, pathophysiology, diagnosis, transmission, and host response.
PCR Diagnostic Test
Led by the Director of the UNMC Emerging Pathogens Laboratory, Dr. Jana Broadhurst, MD, PhD and her team, UNMC was one of the first clinical laboratories in the U.S. to develop its own PCR diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2 detection to support repatriated Americans in the NQU and NBU before public health or commercial tests were available. The test received emergency use authorization from the FDA, continues to support patient care at Nebraska Medicine and the surrounding community, and serves as a gold standard for the evaluation of novel diagnostic technologies.
Research Partners
National Strategic Research Institute
The National Strategic Research Institute at the University of Nebraska is one of only 13 U.S. Department of Defense University Affiliated Research Centers in the nation. As such, the National Strategic Research Institute has been tasked with specific emphases: Nebraska has the lone University Affiliated Research Center entrusted by the military to work on chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats. We work together on numerous biopreparedness research efforts, from basic science to safe air evacuations – including the evaluation of the United States Air Mobility Command's Transport Isolation System.
Learn MoreNebraska Drug Disovery & Development Pipeline
This National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) project aims to turn the University of Nebraska into what one UNMC scientist calls “a virtual pharmaceutical company.” The Defense Health Agency, in collaboration with Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute, has tasked the National Strategic Research Institute with moving potential drug candidates toward clinical trials – and funded the effort with a five-year, $11 million grant titled the Nebraska Drug Development Pipeline.
Learn MoreBiologics Production Facility
This 20,000 square-foot “clean building” allows scientists and technologists to store and produce stem cell products, cellular vaccines and gene therapies, tissue therapies, regenerative medicine therapies and nanomedicine. The facility meets or exceeds Good Manufacturing Practice and Good Tissue Practice regulations and is a crucial bridge for taking lab-bench discoveries to bedside trials.
Learn MoreGCHS Domains
Learn more about our other domains.
