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UNT Health
Science Center
welcomes the
biotech century
by Robert Gracy, Ph.D.
Associate vice president for research and
biotechnology, UNT Health Science Center
O
n these first decades of the biotech century, our
way of life will change more than in the previous
thousand years. These changes offer promises,
such as bioremediation and alternative fuels and
energy, but also dangers, such as hazards to the
biosphere and threats of biological warfare.
Nowhere will the effects be greater than in medi-
cine and human health. For example, new diag-
nostic tools resulting from the Human Genome
Project will vastly enhance our ability to predict
the onset and progression of disease. The current
trial-and-error approach for disease treatment will
be replaced by drugs with unprecedented speci-
ficity, efficacy and safety.
The surprisingly small number of genes found
in the human genome sequence has revealed that
the higher level of complexity lies at the protein
level. Thus, when the human genome sequence
was announced, the human proteome - all the
proteins contained in a cell or organism - project
was initiated as the next step.
The genome project involved dozens of
sequencing centers in many countries and both
academia and industry. The human proteome pro-
ject will be far more complex and will require far
more interdisciplinary teams involving molecular
biology, genetics, bioinformatics, nanotechnology,
medicine, engineering, robotics, chemistry, physics,
Adrian Lewis, PhD.
UNT associate professor
of history
Rescalrchug WorId Var I miliry
st 1tgy.
Lewis is the author of OnnI Benach: A
Flawed VictoI. In the book, he explains
how the high casualty rate at Omaha
Beach during the Allied invasion of
Normandy should be seen as the fault
of the operational and strategic com
manders of the invasion, rather than
of the tactical leaders traditionally
cited by isorians.
Ph.D.
LINT Health Science Center
assistant professor of molecuar
biology and immunology
Finding niew wlponl il cnccr fight
Experimenting with a molecule in
natural killer cells he discovere
almost a decade ago, Mathew
recently identified the ligand, or part-
ncr, to the molecule. it could be the
key to activating natural killer cells
that kill cancerous cells and other
autoimmune diseases.
materials science and many others. The project
will require teams of researchers from academia,
industry and government laboratories from all over
the world.
The UNT Health Science Center at Fort Worth
will be a part of this effort, and the focus of these
activities will take place in the Biotechnology
Research Center now being planned. The center will
house an entire spectrum of activities, from basic to
applied scientific research, involving both academia
and industry. Translational research will allow dis-
coveries to progress through development, proto-
typing and clinical trials to minimize costs and
development time for new drugs and medical
devices. This will speed the processes of "discovery
to bedside."
The center will be home for the Health Science
Center's multidisciplinary Institutes for Discovery.
The DNA Identity Laboratory and the biotechnology
graduate program will be located there. It will also
provide space for the Fort Worth Med Tech Incuba-
tor (where discoveries are spun off into new biotech
companies), research facilities for corporate
research partners and core facilities for genomics,
proteomics, microscopy, imaging and others. The
Biotechnology Research Center will exemplify the
multidisciplinary team research paradigm of the
biotech century.
