New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who has been spending some time in the Adirondacks, toured Trudeau Institute in Saranac Lake this past week to learn about the research now going on at the lab looking for COVID-19 treatments and a vaccine. The Trudeau Institute is renowned for its studies on infectious diseases. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lab has switched its focus to help Adirondack Health Medical Center clean and sterilize PPE for its front line workers and it’s also helped Adirondack Heath set up Coronavirus testing both at the hospital, and mobile test sites that have been held in communities throughout the Tri-Lakes this summer to help the region comply with state guidelines to reopen. The institute’s Atsuko Kuki says Trudeau is working with groups globally in hopes of discovering therapeutics that treat the virus as well as a vaccine to prevent it. So far, though, he says there’s no timeline on how long it could take. Gillibrand says she hopes that billions of federal dollars to go to labs like the Trudeau Institute, will be part of the next federal COVID relief package.