Mayor Kevin Faulconer met with one of the world’s top Ebola researchers Friday to promote San Diego’s role in investigating and developing treatments for the deadly virus.
Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire met with Faulconer while he toured laboratories at Scripps Research Institute and discussed her lab’s global role in developing a “drug cocktail” to fight Ebola. Possible drugs from around the world are sent to La Jolla for testing under Saphire’s direction.
“ZMapp is the proof of concept to that collaboration,” she told the mayor, referring to the drug from San Diego that successfully treated a number of Ebola patients before supplies were exhausted.
Faulconer toured a laboratory where Dr. Dennis Burton is developing a vaccine to combat HIV/AIDS. Dr. James C. Paulson, acting president and CEO of Scripps, praised the lab’s work and said he is “very optimistic about the future” regarding development of a vaccine.
The mayor has been touring San Diego tech companies and research centers to promote the city’s innovation economy. He congratulated Scripps for “ground-breaking research that’s making a huge difference in people’s lives.”
The Scripps Research Institute is one of the world’s largest biomedical research centers. The institute employs some 3,000 people on its campuses in La Jolla and Jupiter, FL, including three Nobel laureates.