The world-renown Texas Biomedical Research Institute located in San Antonio, Texas, announced on June 19 that it plans to expand its “Biosafety Level 4 Facility” (BSL-4) with the interest of having greater capabilities to find cures to many kinds of infectious diseases.
Texas Biomed Research Institute’s President and CEO Dr. Larry Schlesinger explains this pivotal decision, “The Institute’s current biosafety level 4 laboratory, which is the highest safety level laboratory that allows for the study of the world’s deadliest pathogens, must expand if we are to meet the growing demands for discovering more effective diagnostics, therapies and vaccines for these infections.”
The time frame and funding for the plan has not been affirmed yet, however, the Institute expects that the expansion of the BSL #4 will lead to the recruitment of more scientists, funding for research and affirm San Antonio’s position as a leader in biomedicine.
The nation of Israel is also a growing leader in the realm of biomedicine with its academic excellence in research and its presence of Medtech giants such as Johnson & Johnson, IBM and Samsung Electronics. Israeli companies are also responsible for many ground-breaking biomed innovations such as the infamous Pillcam and the NA-NOSE device which is able to detect cancerous tumors in patients early before they are identifiable on an x-ray. Accordingly, expansion of the Texas BSL-4 lab opens up the opportunity for Israeli companies and scientists to join the Texas Biomedical Research Institute in this initiative to unite in the pursuit of disease prevention and eradication.
Sources:
Why Biomedicine is so good in Israel: https://www.mdtmag.com/article/2016/05/israels-medical-device-industry-and-its-global-impact
Na-NOSE website: http://breathtecbiomedical.com/technology/na-nose