The flu. We’ve all had it: the aching, the coughing, the fevers. For most of us, a bout with the flu can’t be over soon enough. But for researchers at UC, the flu is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to intriguing illnesses.
The University of Cincinnati’s Midwest Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (MI-CEID) exists for the sole purpose of researching, preventing and containing biological threats throughout the country: bioterrorism, biological threats, pandemic outbreaks and yes, even seasonal flu viruses.
Malak Kotb, Ph.D., chair of the department of molecular genetics, biochemistry and microbiology at UC’s College of Medicine, oversees the MI-CEID program, which is a collaborative effort between several medical disciplines, including researchers within UC, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), local hospitals, regional health departments and more. According to Kotb, the joint approach has been a key to the center’s success:
Solutions to disease treatment and prevention require innovation – and you can’t be innovative and be in silos. And without private support to spur on the ground-breaking research we do day in and day, essential studies – including those that can save lives or reduce medical costs – would not exist.
So if you get hit with the flu bug this year – and we hope you don’t! – take heart; thanks to the unique vision at UC’s MI-CEID, future treatments will be more timely and effective than ever. And that’s nothing to sneeze at!
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