Case study: University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB)How UTMB leveraged Pure to promote
and report on its COVID-19 response

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“I don’t know what we would
have done without Pure andResearch Expert Proﬁles during
COVID-19. We’ve used it so much,from reporting on our work toshowcasing our experts.”— Melodi Moore,
Research Development Specialist,
UTMB Research Administration

Research Development Specialist Melodi Moore
turned to Pure to track and showcase the team’s
critical contributions
When a virus as infectious as COVID-19 emerges, speed
is of the essence. Within days of China announcing thenew coronavirus, experts at the Galveston National
Laboratory (GNL) a US maximum biosecurity (BSL4)
laboratory, were studying a live sample. Within weeks,
they were collaborating with Moderna and Pﬁzer
on vaccine candidates. Melodi Moore is a ResearchDevelopment Specialist at University of Texas MedicalBranch (UTMB), where the GNL is based. In this casestudy, she explains the crucial role Pure played in
swiftly monitoring and highlighting the lab’s work, aswell as UTMB’s wider contributions to COVID-19. She
also discusses plans to leverage Pure for future UTMB
activities.

BackgroundAs soon as news of COVID-19 broke in December 2019, it wasclear that the Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) would playa key research role. The GNL is one of only a handful of US
national labs that has the clearance level necessary to handle
diseases as infectious and lethal as Ebola. In addition, the lab ishome to experts on the coronaviruses MERS-CoV and SARSCOV; both close relatives of COVID-19.
Importantly, GNL researchers also helped to set up China’smaximum biosecurity lab in Wuhan in 2014 – the same lab that
identified the new coronavirus strain.
Melodi explains: “As a result, we know the team at Wuhan well
– that’s how we ended up with one of the first live samples of
COVID-19 outside of China.”
It wasn’t long before the GNL researchers were using thatsample and their extensive virus experience to contribute toglobal understanding of COVID-19; working “24/7” to develop
antibody treatments and vaccines, in collaboration withcompanies like Pfizer and Moderna. In addition, when concerns

PureYour brilliance, organized for action2arose over early diagnostic tests, UTMB developed an alternativethat was rolled out across the state. Meanwhile, UTMB Health’s
hospitals, clinics and walk-in services were treating patientswith the virus, operating a vigorous vaccination program, andworking hard to raise public awareness. As Melodi points out:
“Our research is fabulous, but it’s only a part of what we’ve been
doing to combat COVID-19.”

The ChallengeWith the GNL researchers and medical teams so active,
Melodi needed a way to showcase their virus expertise and keycollaborations. She was also tasked with providing data reports
to UTMB leadership and local funding providers, such as theSealy Smith Foundation, which awarded UTMB $3.1 million.

The Solution
For Melodi, Pure – known at UTMB as Research Expert Profiles– has proved “a lifesaver” over the course of the pandemic. In
particular, she has drawn heavily on the opportunities to filterand showcase data offered by the Pure portal ‘COVID-19 banner’– a new feature launched by the Pure team in early 2020.
She says: “Elsevier and Pure did a great thing by introducing thatbanner early on. It’s made it really easy to report on publications
and media mentions – I can get the information I need with justone click. I’ve heard anecdotally that other UTMB departments
use it a lot too.”

In addition, updates were required for the wider University ofTexas System, highlighting the team’s important and groundbreaking COVID research. Importantly, she was also asked tosource publication figures and media hits for the NIH (NationalInstitutes of Health), CDC (Centers for Disease Control andPrevention), and UTMB’s industry partners; all core funding
streams for UTMB’s COVID-19 work.
As Melodi notes: “This kind of information is not only required,
it is also something we are keen to share, as it’s not unrealistic tothink it influences funding decisions.”
Finally, Melodi wanted to monitor the other alternative metrics– or altmetrics – associated with UTMB’s work; for example,
publication downloads, views, citations in policy documents andmentions in the media.

“The weekly updates, using the Pure media andpublications data, are invaluable to not only
the research community, but also the senior
executives to understand the tremendous
amounts of innovation, hard work, and notoriety
being created by SARS CO V2 researchers.”— Dr. Randall Urban,
MD, VP and Chief Research Officer, UTMB

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The new Pure functionality Melodi
used to monitor and highlight UTMB’s
COVID-19 contributions
The COVID-19 banner is an optional feature that institutions canchoose to display on the homepage of their Pure portal.
Clicking on the banner leads to a landing page, where, thanks
to a powerful, easy-to-tweak and transparent search string, only
virus-related information is displayed.
Results can be viewed by the following content types:• Experts• Departments• Equipment• Projects/Grants• Publications
In UTMB’s case, there is an additional content type – Press/
Media – as Melodi and the team integrated Elsevier’s Newsflo
solution, so they could track and analyze coverage of their
COVID-19 publications at a granular level.
Data can also be further refined; for example, publications canbe filtered by language, publication year and collaborators.
And monitoring publication impact is easy – Scopus citations

are included, along with alternative metrics such as PlumX andAltmetrics, which track usage, social media/media mentions andmore.
While the feature was launched in response to the pandemic,
institutions can repurpose the functionality to highlight otherkey institutional activities and topics.

“The COVID-19 banner leads to a really valuable
portal. I can use it to filter information by publicationtype, open access, most relevant authors, and otheruseful categories. You can even filter by the top 50
research units!”- Melodi Moore
Thanks to the Pure portal COVID-19 banner, Melodi has beenable to track and promote an array of impressive COVID-19
related statistics. Since the beginning of March 2020, UTMB
scientists have:• Submitted 259 proposals for COVID-19 research, worth a totalof $151.4 million• Received more than $34.3 million in funding• Published 208 publications in respected medical journals• Received approaching 10,000 global media mentions

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According to Melodi, the topics that UTMB researchers
have published on vary widely from vaccines to COVID19’s relationship to SARS. “The virus has also sparked newcollaborations at UTMB, which we’ve been able to track andhighlight using Pure. For example, the disproportional effect ofCOVID on the elderly prompted our experts on ageing research
to join forces with our infectious disease researchers – a perfectopportunity for them to pool their expertise.”
And the impact of those papers is clear to see. “The alternative
metrics on our COVID-19 publications have reached a new high.
Via Pure, we can see there has been a huge increase in usage inpolicy papers and a similar increase in media mentions.”
She adds: “I’m sure that our ability to highlight that research on
Pure has led to new collaborations. Pure has made it easier forexperts to find other researchers and see what topics they are
working on; especially as the COVID-19 banner looks and works
the same on every institution’s Pure portal.”“One of the things I really love about Pure is that if
you go to another institution’s Pure portal, you alreadyknow how to use it. That makes finding information
really easy.”- Melodi Moore

Looking to the future – how Melodi
plans to leverage Pure’s new features
Melodi has been so pleased with the COVID-19 banner, she
has decided to reuse the functionality. She explains: “We havejust received a renewal of our Clinical and Translational ScienceAward (CTSA) from the NIH. It’s a highly sought-after grant andit’s not often that institutions receive it more than once, so forus, it’s a big deal. When COVID-19 settles down, we will takethe banner technology and use it to highlight our translational
research. It means we can showcase our experts in one place andpull the same sort of reports we’ve created for COVID.”
Melodi also has plans to repurpose Pure functionality thatwas designed to showcase work related to the UN Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs). She will use it to highlight progress
towards the six research goals (RSPs) set by UTMB’s Chief
Research Officer, Dr. Randall Urban. The functionality will enable
her to:• Add a banner to the Pure Portal showcasing the RSPs. Visitors
clicking on an individual RSP will be able to explore theresearch outputs and researcher profiles associated with it.
• Add badges on researcher pages showing the RSPs that person
is associated with and links to other researchers active in that
RSP area.
• Track progress towards RSP targets and report on them. This
will include identifying top researchers and organizations perRSP.
Melodi explains: “I’m working with Elsevier now to repurpose
the SDG technology. Leadership and faculty are really excitedabout it!”“Every time I talk to the Elsevier Pure team, theyteach me something new. They have been nothing
but wonderful to us and have helped us tailor Puretechnology and Research Expert Profiles to meet ourneeds.”- Melodi Moore

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Your brilliance, organized for action5About UTMB Health – the University ofTexas Medical Branch
The University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) began as ahospital and medical school in Galveston more than 125 years
ago. Today, it is a major academic health sciences center ofglobal influence with a $3.3 billion annual statewide economicimpact.
UTMB includes schools of Medicine, Nursing, HealthProfessions and Graduate Biomedical Sciences; several institutes
for advanced study; a major medical library; a network ofhospitals and clinics that provide a full range of primary andspecialized medical care; and numerous research facilities.
UTMB is a part of The University of Texas System, comprisedof 14 academic and health institutions, and is a member of theTexas Medical Center.

The Galveston National Laboratory (GNL) is located on theUTMB campus and operates under the umbrella of UTMB’s
Institute for Human Infections and Immunity. As a highcontainment research facility with BSL4 (biosecurity level 4)
status, it serves as a critically important resource in the global
fight against infectious diseases.

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6Building Pure usage and on-campus
support – Melodi’s 4 top tips
When UTMB acquired Pure in 2015, Melodi took on the primaryadministrator role. Today, Research Expert Profiles, as it’s known
on campus, is home to 917 experts, including postdocs andfaculty. For Melodi, key priorities include training them to use
Pure and optimizing their profile information. These are thesteps she follows to achieve those goals.

“For me, the bestthing about Pure
Encourage researchers to personalize their profiles.
is that most of ourpublications are in
one place and I don’t
have to go through thelibrary or learn other
Then encourage them to link to it, wherever possible.
systems to accessthem. It’s easy to sortand filter them and I
Join department and leadership meetings or bookcan reach a live version one-on-ones.
of a publication in justtwo clicks.”- Melodi Moore

Melodi says: “Without da Vinci’s portrait, we would have noidea who the Mona Lisa was. Images are important – they help
people remember you. For example, we have found that people
are more likely to book an appointment with a physician if they
have seen photo of them. I’m sure it must be the same when
researchers are looking for collaborators.” If researchers don’t
volunteer their photos, she turns to other sources: “I often takethem from our quarterly update or website.” UTMB researchers
are also encouraged to add other personal details to theirprofiles. According to Melodi: “Around 30 percent of profiles
now contain additional information, whether it’s a little blurb,
educational history or updated keywords.”“A Pure profile says a lot about a researcher and offers a reallyeffective and easy way to showcase them and their work. I
recommend they link to their profile from their department
webpage, in their email signature and in press releases –basically, anywhere they can place it where collaborators will link
to it.”“They offer the perfect opportunity to demonstrate how Purecan highlight the accomplishments of that team or an individual
researcher,” Melodi explains. “I also show them the kind of data
we can report on. The good news is it’s really starting to increaseusage and engagement; in fact, one department is now using
Pure as its main web presence.”

Communicate key Pure updates and developments
For example, each year, Melodi tries to improve Pure in someway. “That gives me a reason to go out to the campus and say,‘hey, we are doing this and, by the way, here’s how you can use
Pure’.”

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July 2021