Director's Message
Every day at the Institute of Biosciences and Technology, top scientists from around the world search for cures for the most serious of people’s ills—cancer, heart failure, stroke, birth defects and bacterial infections, among others. And, as they work, IBT scientists train graduate students to carry on this incredibly important research.
The institute offers a program that leads to a Ph.D. degree in biomedical sciences. Students learn how to conduct biomedical research, and their curriculum provides both theoretical background and appropriate skills. Students interact often with postdoctoral fellows and faculty members, sharing in the excitement of making scientific discoveries.
IBT organizes its work on research themes—including the Centers for Cancer and Stem Cell Biology, Environmental and Genetic Medicine, Genome Research, Extracellular Matrix Biology and Inflammatory Disease, and Molecular Development and Disease.
IBT provides a bridge from Texas A&M scientists to researchers in other institutions and the Texas Medical Center, as well as to the growing biotechnology community in Houston. IBT encourages its scientists to transfer discoveries made in their laboratories to the marketplace so that its research results can help people. Faculty members are working with biotechnology companies, many licensing agreements are based on IBT research, and four new companies have been incorporated
IBT’s work is so well regarded in this area that it has been included in the new Texas Institute for Genomic Medicine, which will develop life-saving medical treatments and therapies based on a unique partnership with private enterprise. The recent acquisition of thousands of mouse genetic knockout models through the Texas Institute of Genomic Medicine has already helped IBT scientists to identify new drug targets for human disease, such as heart failure, stroke, fibrosis, liver failure, drug resistant bacteria, breast and prostate cancers. These distinctive mouse models have led to the IBT drug discovery program.
The IBT drug discovery program is being built upon a unique biotechnology platform that will expedite the identification of lead compounds. IBT is among the few primary contributors in this field in Texas. New gene-based drug discovery promises to be among the greatest breakthroughs for medicine in the new century.
