Texas Biomedical Research Institute

Texas Biomedical Research Institute began in 1941 as the Foundation of Applied Research (FAR) founded by noted San Antonio businessman and philanthropist Tom Slick. The Institute's original mission was to provide broad research and study in agriculture, natural sciences, and medicine, but it eventually focused on specialized medical research on infectious diseases, cancer research, heart disease, and neonatal diseases. The organization has underwent several name changes, from the Foundation of Applied Research to the Southwest Foundation for Research and Education in 1952, then to the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in 1984, and and mostly recently to the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in 2011. The Institute played an important role in a number of medical breakthroughs, including the development of the current Hepatitis B vaccine; a high frequency ventilator for premature babies; identification of genes that influence hear disease, diabetes, and obesity; methods to diagnose infections with Herpes B virus; and identification of genes influencing drug resistance to malaria parasites.

The Institute is located on a 200-acre complex in San Antonio, Texas and employs over 400 employees working over over 200 research projects. The Institute is also the home of the National Institute of Health's Southwest National Primate Research Center, one of eight centers that house primates for scientific research. The Southwest National Primate Research Center is home to the world's largest baboon and marsupial colonies and is responsible for mapping the gene sequences of the rhesus and baboon. The Institute also is home to the AT&T Genomics Computing Center, the world’s largest computing cluster dedicated to human genetic analysis.

From the guide to the Texas Biomedical Research Institute Publications Collection MS 378., 1953-2011, (University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries Special Collections)