The University of Texas Medical Branch’s World Reference Center for Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses has samples of monkeypox from past outbreaks and has started to grow more samples of the virus to distribute to other research labs working on diagnostic tools and treatments. The medical branch is home to one of the leading viral research programs in the world and has grown and distributed other viral samples to researchers in past outbreaks, including early on during the COVID-19 pandemic. “We’re gearing up to produce large amounts of those viruses to distribute to scientists who need them,” said Scott Weaver, the director of the Institute for Human Infections & Immunity at the University of Texas Medical Branch.