MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Paul B. McCray, Jr., M.D. Professor of Pediatrics, Microbiology, and Internal Medicine Executive Vice Chair of Pediatrics Associate Director: Center for Gene Therapy Roy J. Carver Chair in Pulmonary Medicine Pappajohn Biomedical Institute Carver College of Medicine University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA  52242 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is great interest in developing a vaccine that could help protect people from infection with SARS-CoV-2.  Over the last 15 years, my laboratory has helped develop small animal models of the severe coronavirus diseases SARS and MERS to study disease pathogenesis and to test treatments.  In this study, we used a mouse model of the MERS coronavirus to test a vaccine idea in collaboration with Dr. Biao He at the University of Georgia. (more…)