UK, with partners, has been selected as a testing site for the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson’s Phase 3 clinical research study, called the ENSEMBLE trial, to evaluate Janssen’s investigational COVID-19 vaccine candidate. To date, more than 100,000 individuals have been vaccinated with a Janssen AdVac®-based vaccine.

Dr. Lisa Cassis, UK’s vice president for research, oversees the university’s vast medical and nonmedical research efforts. On this episode of "Behind the Blue," she discusses the many areas UK's Office of Research is prioritizing, including greater diversity and inclusion, the increasing commitment to opportunities for undergraduate research, returning research efforts to higher capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic, and more.

Jon Thorson and UK were recently awarded a prestigious Centers of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) grant to study translational chemical biology from the National Institutes of General Medical Sciences, part of the National Institutes of Health. The $11.2 million grant will fund UK's Center of Biomedical Research Excellence in Pharmaceutical Research and Innovation.