Texas A&M Scientists Identify New COVID Variant BV-1 New COVID-19 Variant Detected Could Present A Challenge Scientists at the Texas A&M University Global Health Research Complex (GHRC) have identified a variant of the COVID-19 virus — “BV-1” — that could present a new challenge to public health. Although found in only one individual who had only mild symptoms, the Texas A&M scientists decided they should share information about the variant with scientists across the globe. That’s because published cell culture-based experiments from other labs have shown several neutralizing antibodies are ineffective in controlling other variants with the same genetic markers as BV-1.