Based on local capacity and talent/labor capabilities, the Texas Innovation Corridor is ideally suited to grow and sustain business operation in the life sciences industry sector in two key niche areas: Biotechnology and Environmental Sciences.
The two-county footprint has several research assets, including Texas State, that support growth opportunities within the Life Sciences sector and associated subsectors.
Here are a few of the companies and employers within the Environmental Science sector:
Grifols, Inc., is a plasma testing & research laboratory and fractionation plant located in San Marcos.
ION Biosciences is a reagent and assay technologies company headquartered in San Marcos. They specialize in pioneering new approaches to ion channel and ion transporter-focused basic and translational research. ION provides reagents, assays, and assay development services.
The Whitenton Group, Inc., are environmental consultants based in San Marcos, which provide services such as natural resources surveying, environmental inspection, and erosion and sediment control services to public and private sector clients.
The Luling Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Luling, collaborates with private sector firms and universities to demonstrate profitable agriculture-related ideas, such as rainwater harvesting systems and solar-powered water wells.
As an Emerging Research University, Texas State offers a number of key assets for organizations to collaborate on research, development and processes. One of those- Texas State’s STAR Park- is a one-of-a-kind incubator, housing three new Life Science labs for collaboration and research.
Texas State’s Nutritional Biomedicine and Biotechnology Laboratory is housed in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences. The lab is a component of the Nutrition and Foods program, which focuses on current scientific research and explores the role that a diet rich in whole foods plays in preventing disease and attaining a healthy lifestyle.
CHRISTUS Santa Rosa - San Marcos, located in San Marcos, staffs more than 700 associates who work with more than 300 active and consulting physicians to provide quality services to patients and their families. In addition to interventional cardiac services, CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital – San Marcos is a certified Chest Pain Center and an accredited Primary Stroke Center.
The University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School accepted its first class in 2016. In addition to training new physicians and providing treatment and applied training in a new teaching hospital which will be adjacent to the medical school, there will be research opportunities that Greater San Marcos should leverage.
The Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine is a community-based medical school in Round Rock (Williamson County) providing third- and fourth-year clinical training at regional clinical campuses around the state through affiliations through local physicians, clinics and hospitals. Student rotations are in family medicine, internal medicine, obstetrics/gynecology, pediatrics, psychiatry and surgery.
The San Antonio Life Sciences Institute (SALSI) is a collaboration between the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of Texas at San Antonio to address educational, scientific, and policy issues related to life sciences. SALSI encourages technology transfers and has partners such as the Southwest Research Institute and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute.
Ascension Seton has additional health providers and potentially strong translational research partners.
The San Antonio Life Sciences Institute (SALSI) is a collaboration between the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of Texas at San Antonio to address educational, scientific, and policy issues related to life sciences. SALSI encourages technology transfers and has partners such as the Southwest Research Institute and the Texas Biomedical Research Institute.
The James and Marilyn Lovell Center for Environmental Geography and Hazards Research is housed in Texas State’s Department of Geography. The goals of research in this Center are to better understand the Earth’s environment, to analyze and reduce the impacts of natural and technological hazards, and to improve environmental policies.
The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State is to advance a holistic approach to natural systems management to ensure that water policy is guided by principles of sustainability and equitable use. Since 1991, the Center has trained more than 7,600 citizen scientists through the Texas Stream Team program. These citizen scientists collect water quality data on various bodies of water, which is accessible online and is used to create analytic reports.
The Edwards Aquifer Research and Data Center, another Texas State asset, is a National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC) certified lab and research center located in the College of Science and Engineering. The Center provides water quality analysis on water collected from various sources, including nature, municipalities, and wastewater treatment facilities.