Updated: 1:30 PM CST January 25, 2021 MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Researchers at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center have played a supporting role in the development of COVID-19 vaccines. To examine the efficacy of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine during development, the company needed a way to test the inhibitory effects of the antibodies generated after vaccination on virus infection. However, to work with SARS-CoV-2 requires a Biosafety Level-3 laboratory, which most companies do not have. To reduce the risk to workers testing the vaccine, Pfizer-BioNTech and other companies developing vaccines against COVID-19 have utilized a surrogate system, one of which was developed in the laboratory of Michael Whitt, PhD, associate dean of the Office of Medical Education in the UTHSC College of Medicine, chair of the Department of Medical Education, and a professor and former chair of the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Biochemistry at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center.