GALVESTON, Texas - A University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researcher has been awarded a three-year, $150,000 Parker B. Francis Fellowship to support her studies of a newly discovered childhood respiratory virus. 

Xiaoyong Bao, a junior faculty member in UTMB's department of pediatrics, is one of 18 researchers nationwide receiving Parker B. Francis Fellowships. The award will fund further investigations by Bao into human metapneumovirus (hMPV).

The virus, which was first identified in 2001, causes about 12 percent of all respiratory tract infections in children, making it second only to respiratory syncytial virus as a cause of childhood pulmonary disease. (HMPV is also the second most common cause of lung infection in transplant patients.) 

"I'm very grateful to the Francis Family Foundation for this support," Bao said. "The award will help our lab move forward with research related to developing a vaccine against hMPV, which we now know imposes a tremendous disease burden."

Bao's studies of hMPV - guided by her mentor, Professor Roberto Garofalo - focus on how airway cells and immune cells respond to infection by both the normal virus and a mutant form that lacks a key protein used by the normal virus to interfere with innate immune response. The weakened mutant form is under consideration as a candidate for a future hMPV vaccine.

The Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program is devoted to helping outstanding young scientists working on pulmonary medicine and lung biology make the transition to positions as full-fledged, independently funded research faculty, a critical step in their career development.

The program's namesake, Parker B. Francis, was founder of the Puritan-Bennett Company, a leading manufacturer of respiratory equipment and medical gases. In 1951, Francis established a foundation bearing his name, and today the Francis Family Foundation remains the sole benefactor of the Parker B. Francis Fellowship Program. Since 1976, the foundation has contributed more than $40 million to the program in support of more than 700 fellows.