Texas Biomedical Research Institute
| Established | 1941 |
|---|---|
| Faculty | 90 |
| Staff | 400 |
| Location |
 San Antonio, Texas, USA*
|
| Website | www.txbiomed.org |
Texas Biomedical Research Institute (Texas Biomed), located in San Antonio, Texas, is an independent biomedical research institution, specializing in genetics and in virology and immunology. Texas Biomed is funded by government and corporate grants and contracts, and donations from the public.
Founded in 1941 by Tom Slick as the Foundation of Applied Research, Texas Biomed became the Southwest Foundation for Research and Education in 1952, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) in 1982, and Texas Biomedical Research Institute on February 1, 2011.
Located on a 200-acre (0.81 km2) campus on the northwest side of San Antonio, Texas Biomed employs over 75 doctoral level biomedical scientists, including 28 principal investigators and 400 staff members. Focused on basic biomedical research, the Institute is divided into the Department of Genetics and the Department of Virology & Immunology. The Southwest National Primate Research Center, a part of Texas Biomed, is an international resource that provides specialized facilities and expertise in research with nonhuman primates to investigators from around the US and other countries. It maintains 4,000 nonhuman primates.
Texas Biomed maintains the only privately owned Biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory in the United States, developing bioterrorism defenses and novel strategies against incurable infectious diseases.
The AT&T Genomics Computing Center, "the world's largest computer cluster devoted to statistical genetic analysis," helps scientists find genes that influence susceptibility to diseases at record speed.
In 2015, it was announced that the institute is under a federal investigation after the death of at least five primates over a five-year period. According to news reports, one monkey was crushed to death by a cage door, another died from strangulation and another from blood poisoning following a traumatic injury.
In 2014, the Humane Society of the United States released undercover footage from inside the institute which, according to the animal welfare group, “found a pattern of animal mistreatment, including overcrowding and lack of veterinary care”. The group said their investigation found animals suffering from severe stress and improper treatment after injuries. In response, the institute argued they have “a long-standing commitment to treating animals humanely and with the highest regard for their well-being, and…continuously seek to enhance the care provided to” the animals in their facility.
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