Researchers at UofL’s Envirome Institute, in collaboration with the Department of Public Health and Wellness, have utilized a wastewater-monitoring approach to track the presence and levels of infectious diseases, including the flu and COVID-19, to offer an early-warning system for Louisville.

“Wastewater monitoring involves tracking the presence of pathogens, such as viruses, in sewage or wastewater,” said Ted Smith, associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology and environmental medicine at UofL. “This innovative technique allows researchers to detect the early signs of disease outbreaks in a community, providing valuable insights into the potential spread of illnesses and enabling timely public health responses. Our latest wastewater report shows flu season has officially arrived. If you have not taken action already, now is the time to take steps to protect yourself and your family from getting sick.”

“To reduce the chance of severe symptoms and hospitalization, the most effective and proactive step you can take is to get vaccinated against the flu,” said Kris Bryant, associate medical director at LMPHW, professor of pediatrics at UofL and pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Norton Children’s. “To be protected during this time of spread, it is crucial to receive your flu shot as soon as possible. It’s recommended that everyone 6 months and older get their flu vaccine. The flu vaccine is both safe and highly effective.”

It typically takes about two weeks for immunity to develop after vaccination. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), individuals who were vaccinated against the flu last year were 40% to 70% less likely to be hospitalized due to flu-related illness or complications. Vaccination not only protects you but also contributes to the overall community’s well-being by reducing the spread of the virus.

For additional information on vaccination clinics and other preventive measures, visit the Louisville Metro’s Department of Public Health and Wellness .

For additional information on the Envirome Institute’s wastewater monitoring for COVID-19 in Louisville, visit the .

UofL’s Envirome Institute and the Louisville Metro’s Department of Public Health and Wellness are committed to leveraging innovative technologies and research methods to safeguard the health of our community. By monitoring wastewater, we can stay one step ahead of disease outbreaks and better protect the well-being of all residents.

Michael Wade Smith, vice president for university relations and chief of staff, provided senators with information on the vice president for diversity and equity search. The search committee evaluating candidates for this role include Wade Smith and 18 other university leaders, faculty and staff, with representation from UofL’s Black Faculty and Staff Association, AAPI Employee Resource Group, Hispanic Latin@ Faculty and Staff Association and LGBTQ+ Faculty and Staff Association.

“We are now at the stage where the committee will be meeting to take in the feedback from those folks who met with the candidates and make a recommendation on the candidates that the committee believes are viable based on our experience, feedback and a provided unranked list of the strengths and weakness of those viable candidates,” stated Wade Smith.

The VP of diversity and equity will report directly to the university president, serving as a member of the president’s cabinet, senior leadership team and other key institutional committees. This position serves to create and maintain a campus environment that reflects UofL’s mission, vision and values as a premier anti-racist metropolitan research university.

“We brought in five candidates, and I think was an incredibly strong pool; two of the individuals are in associate deans for diversity roles at significant institutions, one candidate has been an experienced chief diversity officer in the government sector and two of the candidates are sitting vice presidents of diversity at large top-tier research one, division one athletic institutions,” Wade Smith said.

Interim University President Lori Gonzalez, then serving in her capacity as executive vice president and university provost, provided senators with COVID-19 vaccination rates and an update on the status of university-wide vaccine mandates. Gonzalez reported that UofL’s vaccination rate remains at 91% campus wide.

“We have been transitioning data collection for the health records from public health, so there has been a delay in tracking,” Gonzalez said. “We were talking about the vaccine mandate and to be ready for that, the COVID-19 call center has been contacting the 633 staff, faculty and student employees that we had no records on, and they whittled that number down.”

Gonzalez reported that as of Dec. 1, 2021, a total of 162 university employees were unvaccinated and that the Business Operations COVID Support Team is in the process of confirming vaccination status for 146 other employees. Additionally, senators were informed that vaccines will not be mandated by the university at this time due to a .

“On Nov. 30, we received information about the injunction from the 5th Circuit Court that blocks the contractor COVID-19 mandate. Because of that, we’re pausing our vaccine mandate,” said Gonzalez. “We are still highly encouraging [vaccination], we are still keeping up with our masking, we’re not pausing in the requirement for testing and we will see that’s the mandate for unvaccinated people.”

Senators were presented with a proposal for the addition of a new program in the School of Business, a master of science in accountancy and analytics (MSAA). The proposal included revisions addressing concerns voiced during last month’s senate meeting and received approval from the academic programs committee. UofL’s Faculty Senate unanimously passed the proposal, and the 34-hour master’s program has proposed implementation in fall 2022.

Committee reports and a of the meeting can be accessed on the webpage. The next Faculty Senate meeting is scheduled for Jan. 12 via a hybrid format with the option of remote attendance via Teams, or in-person attendance at Ekstrom Library’s Chao Auditorium.

Michael Wade Smith, vice president for external affairs and chief of staff, informed senators of the university’s continuing commitment to providing fair compensation for faculty and staff. The identified the equitable compensation of employees as a critical aspect of institutional success. To honor the university’s commitment, Human Resources will lead two university-wide over the next several months. The studies will assess employee wages and Total Rewards, which include all available benefits such as health insurance, retirement and tuition remission.

“We are trying to increase compensation in spite of the limited resources that we do have and the turbulent time that we’re in,” Smith said. “We have our larger university-wide effort that’s underway; that’s going to take some time. But in addition to that, we are trying to make incremental gains wherever we can.”

Smith further acknowledged that the university’s compensation initiative contributed to the recent improvements in employee wages. In addition to the 1% salary increase that went into effect earlier this year, UofL staff and faculty also received a $1,000 bonus in August. 

Executive Vice President and University Provost Lori Gonzalez provided senators with her insight on the current student enrollment figures. Both Smith and Gonzalez reported an increase in graduate school enrollment by 232 graduate students, but a decline of 194 undergraduate students. Gonzalez reported that universities nationwide are experiencing a decline in undergraduate enrollment due to COVID-19 and highlighted the impact of the enrollment efforts made by UofL employees.

“I want to point out that we started out at about 750 students down. We are now only 194 students down. This was a Herculean lift from our enrollment management team and the Cardinal family, and now this year we will be focused on retaining those students,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez also encouraged senators and their constituents to contribute to the Cardinal community of care by vaccinating for the upcoming flu season. UofL will offer flu shot clinics on both the Health Science Campus and the Belknap Campus until Friday, Oct. 1. Dates, locations and hours of operation for the clinic can be found on the .

“When we talk about a community of care, the one thing that people can do to make sure this a safe campus is to get vaccinated,” Gonzalez said. “Now in addition to COVID-19, we are getting ready to move into flu season. Just like we’re encouraging you to get your COVID-19 vaccine, please get your flu shot as well.”

Brian Buford, executive director of university culture and employee success, presented an overview of UofL’s reimagined employee onboarding experience. Launching in January 2022, the improved onboarding process aims to address issues that were identified through numerous focus groups and interviews conducted by the Employee Success Center.

New aspects of the process will include a full year of onboarding support through the Employee Success Center, increased onboarding support at the departmental level, a revamped new employee orientation, as well as a welcome gift during the first week of employment and again on the one-year employment anniversary.

Buford also announced that each department will have a designated liaison known as an onboarding navigator. As the point-of-contact for onboarding employees, navigators will strive to create a spirit of welcome for new hires within their department. Those interested in serving as onboarding navigators for their departments will have the opportunity to volunteer and receive training in the coming months.

Committee reports and a of the virtual meeting can be found on the . The next Staff Senate meeting will be held on Oct. 11 via Microsoft Teams.

“As of now, we do not have a vaccine that is authorized for use in children under age 12,” said Gary S. Marshall, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Norton Children’s and the UofL School of Medicine, and principal investigator for the Louisville trial. “Having a safe and effective vaccine for children will not only keep them healthy but also would facilitate a return to normal in terms of school and other activities.”

In the randomized clinical trial, two children will be assigned to receive the vaccine for every one child who receives a placebo. The study is blinded, meaning that no one initially will know which injection they receive. Parents and caregivers will be asked to track changes to the child’s health in an electronic diary, and children will have at least six in-person visits over a two-year period, some to include blood draws.

Children who are randomly assigned to receive the placebo will be given the chance to receive the active vaccine after six months; therefore, all children in the study ultimately will have the opportunity to receive the active vaccine.  

The vaccine being studied is the same one that has been authorized for people ages 12 and older. In adults, this vaccine demonstrated 95% efficacy against COVID-19, and as of May 2021, nearly 140 million people in the U.S. had received at least one dose. Preliminary data show the vaccine to be safe in children as well as able to generate a strong immune response.

The research team plans to enroll about 100 local volunteers for the trial; the overall enrollment will be about 4,500. Children ages 6 months to 11 years who are generally healthy are eligible to be included.

“The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been shown to be very safe and effective in adults and adolescents,” said Kimberly A. Boland, chief of staff, Norton Children’s Hospital, and department chair, UofL School of Medicine Department of Pediatrics. “We have every reason to believe this study will show the vaccine to be safe and effective in children and an important step forward for children’s health and for protecting our communities.”

Marshall is known for his work in vaccine development, advocacy and education. In fact, he has worked on many of the vaccines that children routinely receive today.

The clinical trial team has responded to the pandemic, treating children with COVID-19 and its consequences.

“This is the most exciting vaccine trial I have ever been involved with, and I’ve been doing this for over 30 years,” Marshall said.

Parents and caregivers can sign children up to be considered for the trial by going to .

In February, the researchers asked adults living in Jefferson County their perceptions about the coronavirus vaccine in order to identify potential barriers to vaccine uptake and to better understand vaccine hesitancy. Letters were mailed to 35,999 households across all geographic sectors of the county inviting the recipients to take part in the survey as well as to make an appointment for free testing for COVID-19, also part of the Co-Immunity Project.

“We wanted to better understand which residents had access to the vaccine as well as their attitudes toward the vaccine,” said Aruni Bhatnagar, Ph.D., director of the . “This information would help us improve equity in vaccine availability as well as help us understand the reasons behind vaccine hesitancy in our community. So, we incorporated the survey opportunity into our outreach for random community testing for the virus.”

The survey included questions about whether the person had been vaccinated, where they received most of their information about the vaccine and where they would prefer to be vaccinated. They also had an option to indicate they would not get vaccinated. They also were asked what would make them more likely to be vaccinated and what influenced those who were hesitant to vaccination.

Participants completed the questionnaire on a website that also offered them the opportunity to schedule an appointment for COVID-19 infection and antibody testing. Most of the 1,296 survey participants were age 60 or over (44%), female (61%) and white (84%) and 90.2% reported being unvaccinated.

An overwhelming majority of participants (91%) indicated they would choose to be vaccinated, with slightly lower rates among minority participants. Vaccine-hesitant participants suggested that more evidence of safety and effectiveness or their health provider’s recommendation would increase their likelihood of getting vaccinated. Although vaccines are provided for free, concerns about cost were seen in more than half the participants.

While most vaccine-hesitant participants expressed concern about side effects and safety, followed by not “tested on enough people who are like me,” minority participants expressed these concerns at higher rates and many vaccine participants from all races had concerns about the timeline of vaccine development. Other concerns were related to the efficacy of the vaccines, vaccines in general and government mistrust.

About 3% of white and 8% of minority participants indicated they would never choose vaccination. Minority participants reported they were more likely to choose vaccination with celebrity endorsement, offerings by faith organizations and vaccination requirements. White participants were more likely to choose vaccination if their family and friends or elected officials were vaccinated and with evidence of efficacy.

Most participants would prefer to be vaccinated by their health care provider, followed by a mobile or walk-in clinic, a pharmacy or a hospital. Other sites, such as community organizations, community recreation centers, workplaces or schools were of interest to one-fourth or less of participants. Minority participants were less interested in vaccination at work, pharmacies, libraries and mobile or walk-up clinics and more interested in being vaccinated at food distribution centers or by their health care provider.

Compared with white participants, minority participants were less likely to report knowing how to find out their vaccine eligibility or sign up for a vaccination.

While they acknowledge limitations to the study due to the fact that it was delivered along with the testing invitation and that it required a computer and internet access to complete, the researchers believe analysis of the results will be helpful in increasing access and acceptance of vaccines among different populations.

“Obtaining information on how to get a vaccine continues to be burdensome and solutions to this problem will help with more equitable vaccine distribution,” said Rachel Keith, Ph.D., assistant professor in the UofL Department of Medicine and a lead investigator in the Co-Immunity Project.

Jon Klein, vice dean for research at the UofL School of Medicine, is a participant in the Pfizer trial.

“While we must wait for the safety data, the news from Pfizer this morning about the effectiveness of their COVID-19 vaccine exceeds all expectations. From my own perspective as a participant in the trial, the two-injection vaccine was not a bad experience and my own adverse effects were mild,” Klein said. 

While he is encouraged by the very high effectiveness of the potential vaccine shown in this this early report, he cautions that the data have not been published and the study has not been peer reviewed. Klein expects the data will be made public within the next 7 to 14 days.

“Today’s news will not change the course of the pandemic over the next 12 weeks, which could be some of the worst we have seen,” Klein said. “It is still up to the public to limit activities, wear masks and continue diligent hand washing, to keep the numbers in check for the next several months.”

Klein has also been participating in the fight against COVID-19 as a medical professional. At the invitation of Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, Klein has provided medical information to the community in the mayor’s regularly scheduled livestreams each week.

“My advocacy efforts have focused on explaining science and public health to the public during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since March, I have appeared weekly with Mayor Fischer on his Facebook Live video broadcast where I answer questions about all aspects of COVID-19,” Klein said.

He is also a weekly guest on WLCL-FM and WBCE-AM radio.

“While these are ESPN sports radio stations, the hosts have taken the lead in bringing COVID-19 information to the Kentucky-Indiana audience,” he said.  

Researchers at the University of Louisville are developing a new vaccine for lung cancer that’s stable and scalable, in addition proving as much as 80 to 100% effective at preventing certain tumor growth in mouse models.

Prevention is key because, while conventional treatments and therapies may kill most of the cancer, a small percentage of cells are resistant. Those are cancer stem cells, which have the ability to reproduce and sustain the cancer.

“Those cells sit there, and they have the capability of regrowing the entire tumor by themselves,” said co-inventor and assistant professor of medicine, Dr. Kavitha Yaddanapudi.

A vaccine sidesteps those cells by helping the body build immunity to cancer before it develops. So far, the UofL vaccine has been tested against lung cancer and melanoma in mice, and 80 to 100% of the vaccinated mice used in each animal trial were cancer free when compared to the non-vaccinated control group.

The research team hopes to develop the vaccine to be effective against all cancer types and is now working toward human trials. They’re working with the UofL to protect and commercialize the intellectual property.

The vaccine contains vesicles isolated from embryonic stem cells, an idea inspired by  who have had multiple children seem to be less likely to develop cancer.

“That brought up the idea that cancer cells and embryonic cells were pretty similar,” said co-inventor Dr. John Eaton, a professor emeritus in medicine, pharmacology and toxicology at UofL. “And it turns out that’s true.”

Through development, the team was able to streamline the vaccine, giving it a longer shelf life, more stability, and making it easy to make in large quantities.

“We tried to simplify, simplify, simplify,” said co-inventor and an associate professor of medicine, Dr. Chi Li.

The research to now has been primarily backed by $325,000 in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health. They’re now looking for funding to support additional research and development.

Check out more about the trials in the video below: 

Listen to the team’s.