Funding received to establish Alkek Early Career Investigator Fellows Program

The Texas A&M Health Institute of Biosciences and Technology (IBT) received funding from the Albert & Margaret Alkek Foundation to establish the Alkek Early Career Investigator Fellows Program. The $150,000 grant will enable the institute to recruit talented young scientists and accelerate the competitiveness of Alkek Fellows for securing federal grant support for their research.

“This support from the Alkek Foundation is a major catalyst to our ability to attract the brightest minds to the IBT, the Texas Medical Center community and the state. Alkek Fellows will make significant gains in patient-centered outcomes throughout the state of Texas and the nation,” said Kenneth Ramos, MD, PhD, executive director of the Institute of Biosciences and Technology.

Researchers at the Institute of Biosciences and Technology in Houston are working to improve the quality of health care through innovative research, education and service. The institute is organized into centers of research excellence focused on cancer, disease prevention, infectious diseases and precision medicine with a shared mission of transferring discoveries made in the laboratory to the classroom, clinic and marketplace.

Alkek Fellows will work in a vibrant environment that is focused on the launching of several biotechnology programs geared towards the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of acute and chronic diseases. They will work alongside the institute’s faculty on the cutting edge of addressing critical issues in biomedicine and health care.

The Alkek Foundation was instrumental in developing the $22 million, 11-story research tower on the south campus of the Texas Medical Center (now known as the “Alkek Building”) where the IBT is housed.