Institute for Biosciences and Technolgy Outreach Highlights

Plans for an Institute of Biosciences and Technology at the Texas Medical Center in Houston were developed by the leadership at Texas A&M University. The concept was endorsed in 1986 by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, and on Jan. 1, 1999, IBT became a member of the Texas A&M Health Science Center.

For the past several years, medical students from Monterrey Tech in Mexico have gained greater insight into biomedical research techniques through a summer program with the HSC-IBT. Program participants are entering their third and fourth years of training, and under direction of an HSC-IBT faculty member, each student learns basic scientific techniques and participates in ongoing laboratory experiments.

As part of the 2006 training program, the HSC made an agreement with Tecnológico de Monterrey that permits its medical students to enroll in one of the Ph.D. programs available in the HSC-Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. The Monterrey Tech students are participating in the HSC-GSBS Ph.D. program available through the HSC-IBT at its location in the Texas Medical Center in Houston.

In April 2007, the HSC-IBT hosted the inaugural Miss Reveille Dog Walk and Fun Run to support Houston A&M Club scholarship activities and the biomedical research being done at the Institute. Other “celebrity” dogs joining Reveille at the event were Cooper, aka “Three Legs”; Radar, the retired TV weather dog; and Chilly, aka “Chili E. Dog,” Houston Aeros mascot.