Contact: Monty Jones, (512) 499-4363; Will Sansom, UTHSC-SA, (210) 567-2579; David Gabler, UTSA, (210) 458-4550

Date: August 7, 2003

UT System News Release

$6.5 Million Committed to San Antonio Life Sciences Institute

SAN ANTONIO - The University of Texas System and its two institutions in San Antonio will allocate $6.5 million for the initial support of the San Antonio Life Sciences Institute, which will promote education, research, and economic development in biomedicine and biotechnology.

The institute, which was created by the Legislature in 2001 but has not been funded by the state, is a collaboration between U.T. San Antonio and the U.T. Health Science Center at San Antonio.

"The commitment of funding that we are announcing today will jump start the operations of the Life Sciences Institute, providing it with the basic investment that will lead to additional funding through research grants and contracts and, we hope, legislative appropriations," U.T. System Chancellor Mark G. Yudof said Thursday at a meeting of the Board of Regents.

"In time, we envision that external funding for research will be the primary basis for support of the institute's activities. The potential for this collaborative effort, in terms of enhanced educational opportunities, laboratory discoveries, and partnerships with private-sector industry, are tremendous. Today's investment has the potential for reaping enormous benefits for San Antonio and the state of Texas. This project is a model for interdisciplinary cooperation between academic and health science institutions."

Of the total investment, $4.5 million will constitute a Research Enhancement Fund for the institute. This funding includes $2.5 million that Yudof has made available from the Chancellor's Special Projects Fund, which is derived from excess reserves for medical liability litigation, and $1 million in matching funds from each of the institutions.

UTSA will commit an additional $2 million in endowment funds for the support of two faculty members who will have joint appointments at the two institutions. This funding will come from the university's Lutcher Brown Endowment, which is dedicated to the promotion of academic excellence at UTSA. The endowment was created in the 1980s from the sale of the 25-acre Lutcher and Emily Wells Brown estate in the Terrell Hills section of San Antonio.

Francisco Cigarroa, president of the U.T. Health Science Center at San Antonio, said: "There is no doubt that this alignment of UTSA and UTHSCSA through the San Antonio Life Sciences Institute will develop synergies in research and education that will exceed the efforts of the institutions if each acts alone."

Ricardo Romo, president of UTSA, said: "The Life Sciences Institute serves as a vital component of UTSA's and the Health Science Center's partnership to accelerate development of new doctoral degree programs and research in the biomedical arena. Together, our universities will enhance the quality of life for all Texans and train tomorrow's experts in the biomedical profession."

Although the institute has not been funded until this time, the two institutions have already been collaborating on a variety of biomedicine and biotechnology projects. The institutions, for example, operate a joint Ph.D. degree program in biomedical engineering. They have also submitted joint grant applications to the National Institutes of Health for studies related to health disparities among minority populations, and they are collaborating with Brooks Air Force Base on several projects related to biotechnology and defenses against bioterrorism.

UTSA, UTHSCSA presidents request funding for new institute - UTSA Today, 3/2003

Regents Approve Joint Programs in Life Sciences for San Antonio - U.T. System, 2/15/01

The University of Texas at San Antonio

The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio

Other news and presentations from the meeting