The Huntsville Hospital System and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology are teaming up to study patients diagnosed with the novel coronavirus, according to a release from the companies on Wednesday.

The goal of the study is to develop a treatment for the respiratory disease COVID-19.

“A COVID-19 treatment is the best way to bridge the gap until a vaccine is widely available,” said Rick Myers, HudsonAlpha’s scientific director, in a statement provided to Yellowhammer News.

A third company, iRepertoire, which is housed in HudsonAlpha’s facility, is partnering to conduct the study.

The subjects of the study will be patients in the Huntsville area who have tested positive for COVID-19. They will submit blood samples four different times over the course of several weeks.

Scientists conducting the study will use the samples to judge how the patients’ immune systems are responding to the underlying coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

“The immune system is nature’s best doctor,” says Jian Han, MD, PhD, founder and chief scientific officer of iRepertoire.

“By understanding the immune system of patients that have effectively fought the pathogen, we can pinpoint the exact identity of cells that effectively eliminate the virus,” added Han.

Huntsville Hospital CEO David Spillers said his company is “pleased to work with HudsonAlpha and iRepertoire in the critical challenge of developing a treatment for COVID-19.”

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95