State, Texas A&M Create Stem-Cell Research Center
A $50 million boost from the Texas governor’s office could create 5,000 jobs statewide, all of them emanating from a new Research Valley initiative.
Gov. Rick Perry tapped the $295 million Texas Enterprise Fund in August 2005 to award the $50 million to a nonprofit institute that will foster cutting-edge stem cell research.
The Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, Perry says,“will attract millions of new dollars for medical research and lead to the development of life-saving medical treatments and therapies.”
The institute gains $10 million for a new College Station research center and $5 million to renovate facilities in Houston, both of which will house copies of 350,000 stem cell lines. Lexicon Genetics, the private partner in the initiative, receives $35 million to create the comprehensive library of embryonic mouse stem cells. Lexicon will produce mice with genes targeted for replacement by laboratory-produced gene mutations. Mice inheriting those mutations from both parents are called “knockout” mice and serve as models for examining the role of genes in mice abnormalities – and by extension – the role genes play in human diseases.
Therein lies the reason Texas is targeting Research Valley for a project that should leverage millions more in medical research, as scientists attempt to take the human genome to new heights in curing diseases.
“We believe this innovative model ... will benefit Texas, our nation and indeed all of mankind,” says John D. White, the chairman of the Texas A&M System Board of Regents. “In collaboration with other universities and companies emerging in the biotech area, the institute truly has limitless potential to improve health care and the quality of life.”
Board members governing the genomics institute will include Dr. Nancy Dickey, the president of A&M’s Health Science Center. That center’s Institute of Biosciences and Technology will house one of the stem cell libraries.
Beginning in early 2006, the goal is to complete the stem cell library in three years, using the catalog to leverage new public-private partnerships and spin off new biotech firms statewide.
“I think we’ll see short-term a magnificent opportunity for our molecular and genetics researchers to substantially increase their opportunities to advance the understanding and application of genetics to a wide variety of issues, from pharmaceutical development to understanding disease structure,” says Dickey. “As we see the discoveries coming about, we hope that what we’ll see is jobs that will not only
be research jobs but become new biotech companies. Long-term, the genomics institute will in fact allow us to manage chronic diseases and create cures for chronic diseases in a much faster time frame.”
A month after Texas and the A&M System announced their genomic medicine partnership with Lexicon Genetics, a glimpse into the potential of the center emerged.
Richard Finnell, president of the Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, revealed the discovery of a gene that may play a role in preventing spina bifida, the most common birth defect causing permanent disability.
