In its nearly 85 years, Texas Biomedical Research Institute has grown into a globally recognized name in scientific exploration synonymous with advancing the COVID-19 vaccine, finding the initial Ebola treatment and developing the first Hepatitis-C therapy.
Now, while many of the country’s scientific institutions are faced with the unclear future of federal research grants under President Donald Trump, Texas Biomed’s leaders say the San Antonio-based institute is uniquely poised for growth and success.
In February, Trump attempted to limit funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to universities and research institutions, citing a desire to cut “wasteful spending.”
This move, which is currently being challenged in federal court, has frozen millions of dollars in funding and halted scientific work at publicly funded institutions.
Texas Biomed’s status as an independent nonprofit, however, gives the organization a chance to showcase that fewer federal dollars doesn’t have to mean less science, said Larry Schlesinger, president and CEO of Texas Biomed.
“I think that the government understands more than ever that the private sector can help and as such, it’s about who can do the work,” Schlesinger said. “The resources and the knowledge that are here don’t exist anywhere else, and that’s an advantage for us.”
Since taking up the helm at Texas Biomed in 2017, Schlesinger said he has been working to diversify the institute’s funding sources away from just NIH dollars — a move that now seems almost prophetic.
Annual revenue from grants and contracts is up 78% for Texas Biomed between 2018 and 2023, and NIH funding has dropped from 65% of the institute’s portfolio in 2019 to 46% in 2023.
“When we first started talking about this [strategic growth] plan, I had asked us to begin to diversify our resources, knowing that the NIH was going to end up being a target,” he told the San Antonio Report.
“We are banking on private sector expertise, quality and safety, and that is resonating with the new administration.”
Where Biomed is headed
Texas Biomed is six years into its 10-year plan to double the size of faculty and the institute’s staff, grow public-private partnerships, increase technology and foster technology transfer, said Nicole Foy, the institute’s director of public relations.
The institute is set to grow both its infrastructure and the scope of its scientific work by 2028, with $210 million in ongoing and upcoming construction projects, said Matt Majors, Texas Biomed’s vice president of operations.
To date, about $60 million in construction projects has been completed, with the other $150 million earmarked for upcoming work, Majors said.
Changes to the institute’s campus so far include renovating its existing computational science building, building two new, upgraded buildings as part of its animal care complex improvements following Winter Storm Uri, IT modernization and expansion that will help allow it to expand its use of AI, and the demolition or renovation of other buildings on campus, he said.
Campus improvements have also been made for the institute’s employees — including launching a new grab-and-go cafe for staff, an on-site medical clinic, a gym, a mother’s lactation room, and additional mental health resources, Schlesinger added.
This year, the institute will start the construction of a new biosafety laboratory level 4, or BSL-4 lab, the animal care complex additions, construct a new shipping and receiving building, input new electric and water infrastructure, improve campus roads and get a new perimeter fence, Majors said.
BSL-4 labs are extremely rare, with only about 10 existing in the U.S. and one of those already at Texas Biomed. These specialized labs are where scientists study dangerous pathogens and toxins that pose a high risk of infection within a contained space.
Texas Biomed owns the only private BSL-4 lab in the U.S. to date, with the others being managed by federal researchers.
Texas Biomed will also start the design of a new “Global Center for Bioscience” this year, which will include additional lab space, conference space, and act as the institute’s new front door, Majors added.
The institute has utilized about $10 million from the city’s American Rescue Plan Act dollars and $3.5 million from the county’s ARPA funds toward its improvements. The rest has come from donated and private dollars ($40 million), a land sale by the institute ($6.7 million), NIH infrastructure funds ($11.5 million), and bonds ($132.8 million).
The NIH infrastructure funds have already been marked as spent and are not in danger of being cut, Majors said.
Infectious disease research
While the institute launched its growth plan prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Schlesinger said it became more apparent than ever during that time that the expansion of Texas Biomed — which has a specific mission to combat infectious disease — would be necessary as global bio-threats continue to grow.
“Since 1980 the number of national and global outbreaks has tripled, and it’s clear even today that the potential for another impactful outbreak is around the corner,” Schlesinger told the Report.
During the pandemic, Texas Biomed garnered the attention of the global scientific community by playing a crucial part in the development of vaccines. That is the attention the institute is now trying to capitalize on, Schlesinger said.
“We are leveraging the strength and position gained around the COVID response to forge partnerships with national and global organizations,” he said.
This includes educating the broader public, including the current administration, Schlesinger said — especially about the relationship between infectious diseases and chronic illnesses.
Whereas much of the current administration says it wants to focus on treating chronic diseases, such as diabetes, obesity and cancer, thinking of these as separate from infectious diseases is a “false dichotomy,” he said.
“Prioritizing chronic conditions increasingly means prioritizing infectious diseases,” Schlesinger said in a recent interview with Nature magazine.
Schlesinger himself survived a bout with oral cancer several years ago. “We are appreciating more and more that infections, and the inflammation they cause, play an important role in these chronic conditions,” he told the British weekly scientific journal.
