(San Antonio)-- UTSA South Texas Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases (STCEID) researchers will be among a growing list of proponents speaking in favor of bringing a new $500 million National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility (NBAF) to San Antonio.  The Department of Homeland Security has scheduled a public meeting to discuss the environmental impact of the proposed facility from 6-10 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11 at the Marriott Plaza Downtown Hotel, 555 South Alamo Street.

             San Antonio is among the list of five finalists seeking to land the coveted economic generating research facility, and UTSA emerging infectious disease researchers are championing a local effort to build the facility in San Antonio. The proposed site would house the 520,000 square-foot facility at the Texas Research Park, located off Potranco Road on the southwest side of San Antonio.

            Last month, U.S. Congressman Ciro Rodriguez met with President Ricardo Romo and UTSA administrators, STCEID researchers, and representatives from The University of Texas Health Science Center, BioMed San Antonio and the Texas Bio-Agri Defense Research Consortium.

            “We feel there is a synergy between the biodefense work our infectious disease center researchers are already doing and the research that will be taking place in the proposed facility,” said Robert Gracy, UTSA Vice President for Research.

            NBAF would employ up to 350 and include researchers studying biological threats involving human, zoonotic and foreign animal diseases.  NBAF would replace the aging Plum Island, New York Animal Disease Center which was built in 1951,  but has insufficient laboratory space and has become more costly to maintain. 
 

            If San Antonio is selected to house the NBAF, it would allow for collaborations with STCEID researchers along with internship and employment opportunities for UTSA undergraduate and graduate students.

            Comprised of 19 research teams led by College of Sciences faculty, STCEID is one of the leading emerging infectious disease research centers in the country, generating more than $5.3 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health and private organizations, since opening in 2005.  STCEID researchers are focusing on critical areas of human health including anthrax, tularemia, cholera, Lyme disease, desert valley fever and other bacterial and fungal diseases.

            STCEID’s advanced research laboratories on the UTSA 1604 Campus are located in the Biosciences Building, Margaret Batts Tobin Laboratory Building and the Biotechnology, Sciences and Engineering Building. Included in the facilities are two high-level containment biosafety level three (BSL-3) laboratories for working on infectious agents.

            The University of Texas at San Antonio is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Texas and the second largest of nine academic universities and six health institutions in the UT System.  As a multicultural institution of access and excellence, UTSA aims to be a premier public research university providing access to educational excellence and preparing citizen leaders for the global environment.

            UTSA serves more than 28,300 students in 63 bachelor’s, 43 master’s and 20 doctoral degree programs in the colleges of Architecture, Business, Education and Human Development, Engineering, Honors, Liberal and Fine Arts, Public Policy, Sciences and Graduate School.  Founded in 1969, UTSA is an intellectual and creative resource center and a socioeconomic development catalyst for Texas and beyond.