The Texas Heart Institute (THI) and Texas A&M University (TAMU) College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences have received a $3 million grant through the Texas Emerging Technology Fund (TETF) to create the Center for Cell and Organ Biotechnology

TAMU houses the Michael E. DeBakey Institute for Comparative Cardiovascular Science and Biomedical Devices, which is known for biomedical research programs in vascular studies and cardiovascular devices. At the DeBakey Institute, cardiovascular scientists, engineers and clinicians from TAMU and the UT Medical School in Houston will collaborate on cardiovascular disease in both human and veterinary patients.

In the U.S., one in three individuals suffer from some form of cardiovascular disease and more than one million die from end-stage organ failure each year. The new center will take a multi-faceted approach to chronic disease for both human and veterinary health care, based on cell and organ failure.

The center will be led by Dr. Doris Taylor, director, Regenerative Medicine Research, Texas Heart Institute and will include scientists, engineers, physicians, veterinarians and business managers from both THI and the TAMU.

The TETF is a $200 million initiative created by the Texas Legislature in 2005 at the governor’s request to provide Texas with an advantage in the research, development and commercialization of emerging technologies, and reauthorized in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013. A 17-member advisory committee of entrepreneurs and research experts reviews potential projects and recommends funding allocations to the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the house. To date, the TETF has allocated more than $203 million in funds to 142 early stage companies, and over $216 million in grant matching and research superiority funds to Texas universities.