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As scientific advances increasingly emerge from collaborative efforts, the resolution of the world’s greatest challenges will depend upon, and result from, the internationalization of research. Initiated in January 2003 by the DTI through Lord Sainsbury in the UK, Malcolm Gillis at Rice University and Iain Murray the then Consul General in Houston, The Texas-United Kingdom Collaborative harnesses the collective experience and ambitions of nine universities and medical colleges in Texas and nine universities in the UK including the UK's top universities. The Collaborative was created to stimulate the exchange of ideas and research in the fields of biomedicine, nanotechnology and information and communications technology (ICT). Since its inception in 2003, the Collaborative has brought together some of the world's leading scientists, engineers, and medical experts to foster collaborative research projects in areas such as biomedicine, biotechnology, and nanotechnology. Texas is a leading centre of bioscience research and is home to the world's largest medical centre, situated in Houston, with more than 35 million square feet of space housing more than 70,000 personnel. In 2008, Texas has been named as one of the top five regions in the world for biotechnology development. Texas also ranks as the fourth largest recipient of US Federal Research Dollars, amounting to almost US$1.5 billion per annum. Most recently the State of Texas has committed US$3 billion over 10 years to cancer research and is looking for international partnerships to make the best use of this money. The UK has complementary strengths in the biosciences and rapidly growing expertise in nanotechnology.

The texas/uk collaborative phase i translational outcomes

The importance of translational outcomes of Phase I of the “Collaborative” was enhanced by the standing of both Texas and Houston in the medical, bioscience and nanotechnology fields. The UT MD Anderson Cancer Center located in the TMC is ranked the number one Cancer Research Center in the US. Rice University, located in Houston, opened the Smalley Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology in 1993, the first such center in the world, Rice leads in the development and commercialization of nanotechnology in several sectors including medical and bio sciences.

The Alliance for NanoHealth, an alliance of all academic institutions in the region and internationally, has more than 170 researchers researching applications of nanotechnology in medicine and health. The University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston with international recognition in emerging infectious diseases is home to a National Laboratory providing Bio-safety Level 4 (BSL-4) facilities. All of these attributes compound the expertise in translating basic and applied research.

Bio-safety level 4 is the highest level of bio-safety. This level is used for the diagnosis of exotic agents such as the Ebola virus that pose a high risk of life-threatening disease, which may be transmitted by the aerosol route and for which there is no vaccine or therapy (www.medterms.com, 2008).

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Source:  OpenStax, A study of how a region can lever participation in a global network to accelerate the development of a sustainable technology cluster. OpenStax CNX. Apr 19, 2012 Download for free at http://cnx.org/content/col11417/1.2
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