Research Valley

They say good things come in threes. It’s certainly true in Bryan-College Station as a trio of research centers is launching, expanding and generally causing good things to happen in The Research Valley.

The Texas A&M University System is expanding its medical school program, has committed $6 million to a new medical research program and has established a new genome research facility.

The expansion of the medical school program means students can complete all aspects of their medical school education on one campus.

“We’ve had a complete medical school for 30 years,” says Dr. Nancy Dickey, president of Texas A&M Health Science Center and vice chancellor of health affairs of the TAMU System. “What we didn’t have was all four years of the program in Bryan-College Station.”

Prior to the expansion, students could do their classroom work here but did clinical training at Scott & White, a health-care system (500 doctors and 350 hospital beds) in Temple, Texas. In fall 2007, some students began clinical training in Bryan-College Station. By 2008, the transition will be complete.

“There is more curriculum flexibility,” Dickey notes. “If students want to work in a Level III nursery ICU, they can spend a month in Temple.” On the other hand, if students want a top-notch brain and spine institute, Dickey says, “We have a wonderful group of physicians, surgeons and therapists giving neurological care in Bryan-College Station.”

The Texas A&M Health Science Center in College Station is also launching a College of Nursing in 2008 and is working to attract 250 nursing candidates in less than 10 years. Officials say they are responding to the nursing shortage gripping Texas and the nation, and heeding a state plan that calls for nursing schools to quadruple their output of registered nurses by 2020.

Meanwhile, the Texas Institute of Pre-clinical Studies (TIPS) broke ground in fall 2007. The facility will train veterinarians, physicians, scientists, technicians and engineers to meet the needs of Texas’ biomedical industry, and it will serve as a key resource for training undergraduate and graduate students, and academic and industry personnel in regulatory issues.

TIPS programs help develop devices to “get products from the bench to the bedside,” says Dr. Theresa Fossum, TIPS director.

“Companies want to test devices and get FDA approval,” Fossum says. “We help them design the study and get that approval.”

The 112,000-square-foot facility will have housing for 240 large animals, administrative and Office of Technology Commercialization (OTC) space, 10,000 square feet for incu bating commercial startups and 25,000 square feet of advanced imaging equipment.

“This is a comprehensive building for doing work across disciplines,” Fossum says.

Small businesses can put themselves in the incubator, work with Texas A&M’s OTC to develop intellectual property and be next door to the researchers designing and carrying out their study.

The Research Valley Partnership is providing $2.5 million to support the incubator, Fossum says.

Completing the trio of enhancements in the field of life sciences at Texas A&M University is the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine. Established with a $50 million grant from the Texas Enterprise Fund and in collaboration with Lexicon Genetics and the university, TIGM utilizes advanced technologies to discover breakthroughs in science and medicine and accelerate the pace of medical discoveries.

A primary goal of the institute is to create a “knockout mouse” with a specific gene turned off, so that scientists can learn the function of that gene and later develop treatments for human diseases and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes, birth defects and cancer.

In announcing funding, Texas Governor Rick Perry, praised the goals of the institute.

“The purpose of this institute is not to study mice, but to cure man,” Perry said.

TIGM will also be a source of jobs for the region. Officials expect the facility to create 5,000 new jobs over the next decade and to draw biotech firms seeking to be near the world’s premier genetic research facility.