Emerging Technology Fund in Temple

The $5 million from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund for the Institute of Regenerative Medicine will enable researchers to convert ideas into cures and products.

Gov. Rick Perry was in Temple on Thursday to announce the state funding for Dr. Darwin Prockop's adult stem cell research at the institute on Scott & White's West Campus.

The goal of the Emerging Technology Fund is to bring the best scientists and researchers to Texas, attracting high-tech jobs and helping start-up companies get off the ground faster.

In addition to improving lives, Perry said, Prockop's work will create jobs and build wealth. "There are countless good ideas that come from academic research, but until it gets to the marketplace and until it really impacts people's lives, it's just on a shelf somewhere," Perry said. "This $5 million investment will go a long way in making this facility renowned around the world...and we will see a substantial impact on people's lives."

The Emerging Technology Funds will help the institute recruit more world-class scientists and advance research to stem cell treatments more quickly, Prockop said. The state support also sends a message to academic centers around the country that Texas is a can-do state with leaders who have a vision.

"We're part of that big effort to make Texas the third coast of biotechnology," Prockop said.

The $5 million investment is a way to position the state at the front in regards to cutting-edge technology, said Michael McKinney, chancellor of Texas A&M University System.

"The research that goes on here has the potential to ease human suffering, to cure some chronic diseases," he said.

The Institute for Regenerative Medicine has unlimited potential, not only scientifically, but economically, McKinney said. Medicines and patents have been developed and there will be companies that will call this part of Texas home.

"This is a time when our nation is facing difficult times...but wise investments in technology will generate jobs and economic development," he said. The partnership between Scott & White and Texas A&M Health Science Center revolves around bringing new technologies and medical research to Texas, said Dr. Alfred Knight, president and CEO of Scott & White.

Delivering that research to the bedside and the rapid adoption of life-saving technologies is what the Institute for Regenerative Medicine is all about," Knight said.

"Recruiting Dr. Prockop was an easy decision," said Dr. Christopher Colenda, dean of medicine, Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine. "He is a visionary medical scientist who has made tremendous contributions to genomic medicine," Colenda said. Prockop's research lab at Tulane University in New Orleans moved to Temple last summer.

"We have great opportunities here for even more researchers and businesses that want to move here to take advantage of the research," Temple Mayor Bill Jones III said. "The economic development impact is significant."

About Temple:
Temple, Texas is a community with a diverse economic base that includes healthcare, distribution and warehousing, and manufacturing as the foundation. Within 180 miles of a population of 17.8 million, Temple is in a strategic location that is central within the southwest U.S. marketplace.