Houston health orgs lost $58M in canceled, stalled NIH grants, new report shows

research cuts

The Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project identified 37 cancelled or frozen NIH grants for Houston institutions. Photo via Unsplash.

Seven institutions in the Houston area have lost nearly $60 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that were aimed at funding health research.

The Science & Community Impacts Mapping Project identified 37 cancelled or frozen NIH grants worth $58.7 million that were awarded to seven Houston-area institutions. The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston suffered the biggest loss — five grants totaling nearly $44.8 million.

The Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health reported in May that over the previous several months across the U.S., the federal government had terminated roughly 2,100 NIH research grants worth around $9.5 billion.

In August, the U.S. Supreme Court derailed researchers’ efforts to reinstate almost $2 billion in research grants issued by NIH, according to Nature.com.

“Make no mistake: This was a decision critical to the future of the nation, and the Supreme Court made the wrong choice. History will look upon these mass National Institutes of Health (NIH) research grant terminations with shame,” the American Association of Medical Colleges said in a statement. “The Court has turned a blind eye to this grievous attack on science and medicine, and we call upon Congress to take action to restore the rule of law at NIH.”

Texas health researchers rely heavily on NIH grants and contracts. During the federal government’s 2024 budget year, NIH awarded $1.9 billion in grants and contracts that directly supported 30,553 jobs and more than $6.1 billion in economic activity in Texas, according to the United for Medical Research coalition.

Here’s a rundown of the cancelled and frozen NIH grants in the Houston area.

  • University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston: Five cancelled or frozen grants, totalling approximately $44.8 million in funding lost.
  • Baylor College of Medicine: 17 grants cancelled or frozen, totalling approximately $8 million in funding lost
  • University of Houston. Five cancelled or frozen grants, totalling approximately $3.7 million in funding lost
  • University of Texas Health Science Center Houston: Five grants cancelled or frozen, totaling approximately $1.1 million in funding lost.
  • University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Two grants cancelled or frozen, totalling $831,581 in funding
  • Rice University. Two grants cancelled or frozen, totaling $254,645 in funding lost
  • Prairie View A&M University: One grant cancelled or frozen, totalling $31,771 in funding lost
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MD Anderson is teaming up with TOPPAN Holdings on cutting-edge organoid tech to help match cancer patients with the most effective treatments. Photo via Getty Images.

MD Anderson launches $10M collaboration to advance personalized cancer treatment tech

fighting cancer

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Japan’s TOPPAN Holdings Inc. have announced a strategic collaboration to co-develop TOPPAN Holdings’ 3D cell culture, or organoid, technology known as invivoid.

The technology will be used as a tool for personalized cancer treatments and drug screening efforts, according to a release from MD Anderson. TOPPAN has committed $10 million over five years to advance the joint research activities.

“The strategic alliance with MD Anderson paves a promising path toward personalized cancer medicine," Hiroshi Asada, head of the Business Innovation Center at TOPPAN Holdings, said in a news release.

Invivoid is capable of establishing organoid models directly from patient biopsies or other tissues in a way that is faster and more efficient. Researchers may be able to test a variety of potential treatments in the laboratory to understand which approach may work best for the patient, if validated clinically.

“Organoids allow us to model the three-dimensional complexity of human cancers in the lab, thus allowing us to engineer a powerful translational engine—one that could not only predict how patients will respond to therapy before treatment begins but also could help to reimagine how we discover and validate next-generation therapies," Dr. Donna Hansel, division head of pathology and laboratory medicine at MD Anderson, added in the news release. “Through this collaboration, we hope to make meaningful progress in modeling cancer biology for therapeutic innovation.”

The collaboration will build upon preclinical research previously conducted by MD Anderson and TOPPAN. The organizations will work collaboratively to obtain College of American Pathologists (CAP) and Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) certifications for the technology, which demonstrate a commitment to high-quality patient care. Once the certifications are obtained, they plan to conduct observational clinical studies and then prospective clinical studies.

“We believe our proprietary invivoid 3D cell culture technology, by enabling the rapid establishment of organoid models directly from patient biopsies, has strong potential to help identify more effective treatment options and reduce the likelihood of unnecessary therapies,” Asada added in the release. “Through collaboration on CAP/CLIA certification and clinical validation, we aim to bring this innovation closer to real-world patient care and contribute meaningfully to the advancement of cancer medicine."

Fannin Partners and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have teamed up to develop drugs based on Raptamer, the creation of Fannin company Radiomer Therapeutics. Photo via Getty Images

Exclusive: 2 Houston health care institutions team up to develop cancer-fighting treatments

collaboration station

Two Houston organizations announced a new collaboration in a major move for Houston’s biotech scene.

Fannin Partners and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have teamed up to develop drugs based on Raptamer, the creation of Fannin company Radiomer Therapeutics.

“Raptamers combine antibody level affinities with desirable physical and pharmacokinetic properties, and a rapid path to clinic,” Dr. Atul Varadhachary, CEO of Radiomer Therapeutics and Fannin managing partner, Varadhachary, explained to InnovationMap in May. “We are deploying this unique platform to develop novel therapies against attractive first-in-class oncology targets.”

The pairing of Fannin and MD Anderson makes perfect sense. Researchers at the institution have already identified novel markers that they will target with both Raptamer-based drugs and radiopharmaceutical/radioligand therapies.

“MD Anderson and Fannin bring highly complementary capabilities to the identification of novel cancer targets and Raptamer-based drug discovery,” says Varadhachary in a press release. “Our collaboration will enable us to rapidly develop targeted therapeutics against novel targets, which we hope will offer hope to patients with progressive cancers.”

Early in this meeting of minds, researchers will focus on developing targeted radiopharmaceuticals — the Radiomers for which Varadhachary’s company is named — as well as targeted drug conjugates that utilize Raptamers. Raptamers are an innovative class of targeting vectors that combine a DNA oligonucleotide backbone with added peptide functionality, for oncology indications.

“We are committed to exceptional research that can help us further our understanding of cancer and develop impactful therapeutic options for patients in need,” says Timothy Heffernan, Ph.D., vice president and head of therapeutics discovery at MD Anderson. “Fannin’s Raptamer drug discovery platform represents an innovative new modality that offers the potential to enhance our portfolio of novel therapies, and we look forward to the opportunities ahead.”

Fannin and MD Anderson will design translational studies together and collaborate to select promising targets for drug discovery. This is a great deal for Fannin, which will retain commercialization rights for the assets that are developed. But MD Anderson won’t be left out; the institution is eligible to receive some payments based on the success of Radiomers and other Raptamer-based drugs developed through the collaboration.

Earlier this year, Varadhachary joined the Houston Innovators Podcast to discuss Fannin's innovation approach and contribution to medical development in Houston. Listen to the episode below.

MD Anderson Cancer Center received $3 million to establish a new genomics research hub. Photo by F. Carter Smith/Courtesy of MD Anderson

Houston hospital to establish genomics research hub as part of CPRIT's $60M round of grants

coming soon

Houston’s University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center will create a genomics research hub thanks to a nearly $3 million award from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas, or CPRIT.

“This groundbreaking facility will have a profound impact on cancer research, and improving the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients in Texas,” says CPRIT.

CPRIT gave the monetary award to Nicholas Navin, a professor at MD Anderson and at the biomedical sciences school within the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston).

The new facility will specialize in advanced spatial genomics, which creates a three-dimensional “atlas” that’s been dubbed “the Google Map of the human body,” according to CPRIT.

“Spatial genomics is an exciting new field that allows cancer researchers to directly connect the images of cells and their tissue structures with genomic data while preserving the spatial context,” CPRIT explains. “This provides the researchers with the ability to see exactly where distinct types of cells are located within a tumor, and determine the genes and proteins they are expressing.”

Until recently, most genomic technologies such as DNA and RNA sequencing required scientists to “grind up” tumor tissues to extract molecules for analysis, according to CPRIT.

“This process means losing the complex composition of the different cell types and their spatial arrangement within the tumor, which makes it difficult to understand the complex environment of cancer cells,” the institute adds.

MD Anderson’s new genomics hub will feature tissue processing, slide imaging, spatial genomics technologies, and spatial data analysis methods for cancer researchers within the Texas Medical Center and around the state.

In other CPRIT funding news, three local medical institutions received a total of $8 million for recruitment of four cancer researchers.

MD Anderson received half of the $8 million from CPRIT. The money will go toward bring aboard:

  • Hojong Yoon. Yoon, recipient of a $2 million scholar recruitment award, is a postdoctoral student at the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Broad Institute. The institute, affiliated with Harvard University and MIT, is a research organization. Yoon’s research focuses on targeted cancer therapy.
  • Marianna Trakala. Trakala, recipient of a $2 million scholar recruitment award, is a postdoctoral researcher at MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. She is studying how small conditional RNA (scRNA) causes a response that triggers activation of the immune system and elimination of cancer cells from tissue.

The Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth Houston) each received one $2 million scholar recruitment award:

  • Louai Labanieh, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University’s Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, is joining the Baylor College of Medicine. Labanieh’s research involves engineering next-generation cells to improve cancer immunotherapy.
  • Yanjun Sun, a neuroscientist who is a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford, is joining UTHealth Houston.

In all, CPRIT recently doled out more than $60 million for cancer-fighting efforts around the state. Aside from the Baylor College of Medicine, MD Anderson, and UTHealth Houston, Rice University and Texas Southern University received CPRIT funding.

“By supporting the vital core facilities that researchers need, funding groundbreaking research, and deepening the bench of clinical trial investigators, CPRIT is fulfilling the promise central to our mission: We are helping Texans conquer cancer,” says Kristen Doyle, CEO of CPRIT.

MD Anderson broke ground on a 600,000 square-foot building that is specifically designed to enable great minds to meet with the goal of conquering cancer. Photo courtesy of MD Anderson

Houston-based, cancer-fighting organization breaks ground on new collaborative building

ready to rise

Houston is where medical researchers and clinicians come together. And it’s getting easier for that to happen thanks to an innovative new facility from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

On September 20, the world-class institution broke ground on a 600,000 square-foot building that is specifically designed to enable great minds to meet with the goal of conquering cancer.

Construction on the seven-story structure, known as South Campus Research Building 5 (SCRB5), is supported by a $668 million institutional grant. The facility is expected to be completed in 2026. Designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects, it will include both high-tech research rooms and public spaces that include a restaurant, conference center and spaces for lectures. A landscaped park is designed by Mikyoung Kim Design.

“The construction of our visionary new research building marks the beginning of our next chapter in Making Cancer History,” Peter WT Pisters, M.D., president of MD Anderson, says in a press release. “With input from hundreds of MD Anderson teammates, we have carefully designed this building and our research campus to foster collaboration, to stimulate creativity and to fuel breakthroughs that will improve the lives of patients here and around the globe.”

SCRB5 is located at 1920 Spanish Trail and is considered an extension of upcoming Helix Park, Texas Medical Center’s 5 million square-foot research campus. Both are specifically designed to create seamless collaborations between scientists and clinicians, where water cooler chat can lead to world-changing discoveries. MD Anderson has already announced that the building will be home to a number of strategic research programs, including the James P. Allison Institute.

The new construction isn’t just notable for the discoveries that will be made there. In itself, SCRB5 will be an exceptionally sustainable and efficient building, with surrounding green spots and connecting pathways that will serve as inspiration for all who work there. This only makes sense for MD Anderson, which invested $1.1 billion in funding in the last fiscal year. In the same year, the institution had more projects funded by the National Cancer Institute than any other.

Rendering courtesy of MD Anderson

Six Houston inventors have been recognized with the highest professional distinction for inventors within academia. Photo via Pexels

6 Houston-area inventors named fellows in prestigious program

best in class

The National Academy of Inventors has announced its annual set of NAI Fellows — and six Houstonians make the list of the 164 honorees from 116 research institutions worldwide.

The NAI Fellows Program honors academic inventors "who have demonstrated a spirit of innovation in creating or facilitating outstanding inventions that have made a tangible impact on the quality of life, economic development, and the welfare of society," according to a news release. The appointment is the highest professional distinction for inventors within academia.

The six Houstonians on the list join a group that hold more than 48,000 U.S. patents, which have generated over 13,000 licensed technologies and companies, and created more than one million jobs, per the release. Additionally, $3 trillion in revenue has been generated based on NAI Fellow discoveries.

These are the scientists from Houston organizations:

    • Zhiqiang An, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston: An is the director of the Texas Therapeutics Institute, a drug discovery program operated by the John P. and Kathrine G. McGovern Medical School at Houston. He's also a professor of molecular medicine and holder of the Robert A. Welch Distinguished University Chair in Chemistry at UTHealth.
    • Alex Ignatiev, University of Houston: Ignatiev served as director of two NASA-supported research and technology development centers at the University of Houston and as Lillie Cranz and Hugh Roy Cullen Professor of Physics, Chemistry, and Electrical and Computer Engineering.
    • David Jaffray, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center: Jaffray was appointed MD Anderson's first-ever chief technology and digital officer in 2019. He oversees MD Anderson’s Information Services division and Information Security department and is a professor of Radiation Physics with a joint appointment in Imaging Physics.
    • Pei-Yong Shi,The University of Texas Medical Branch: Pei-Yong Shi is a professor and John Sealy Distinguished Chair in Innovations in Molecular Biology Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology;. He's also the Vice Chair for Innovation and Commercialization.
    • Ganesh Thakur, University of Houston: Thakur is a pioneer in carbon capture, utilization and storage and has a patent on forecasting performance of water injection and enhanced oil recovery. His team is continuing to push the research envelope for CCUS employing world-class lab research, simulation, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
    • Darren Woodside, Texas Heart Institute: Woodside is the Vice President for Research and Director of the Flow Cytometry and Imaging Core at the Texas Heart Institute. His research centers around the role that cell adhesion plays in cardiovascular and autoimmune diseases, and the development of novel means to identify and treat these diseases.
    Ten other Texas-based innovators made the list, including:
    • Sanjay Banerjee, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Thomas Boland, The University of Texas at El Paso
    • Joan Brennecke, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Gerard Cote, Texas A&M University
    • Ananth Dodabalapur, The University of Texas at Austin
    • Holloway (Holly) H. Frost Jr., The University of Texas at Arlington
    • James E. Hubbard, Texas A&M University
    • Yi Lu, University of Texas at Austin
    • Samuel Prien, Texas Tech University
    • Earl E. Swartzlander Jr., The University of Texas at Austin
    This year's class will be inducted at the Fellows Induction Ceremony at the 11th Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Inventors in June in Phoenix, Arizona.

    "The caliber of this year's class of NAI Fellows is outstanding. Each of these individuals are highly-regarded in their respective fields," says Paul R. Sanberg, president of NAI's board of directors, in the release. "The breadth and scope of their discovery is truly staggering. I'm excited not only see their work continue, but also to see their knowledge influence a new era of science, technology, and innovation worldwide."

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    Telsa targets Houston area for new $10 billion manufacturing plant

    Project Sun City

    Electric vehicle and clean energy company Tesla is considering building a new $10.1 billion solar cell manufacturing facility in Fort Bend County, according to documents filed with the Texas Comptroller’s Office.

    If approved, the plant, called Project Sun City, would be located on a 3,050-acre site off FM 762 and FM 1994 in Richmond, Texas. Tesla aims to finish construction in 2028, with the plant being operational by early 2029.

    The plant will manufacture photovoltaic (PV) solar cells and modules that can convert sunlight into electricity. PV Magazine reports that the facility is "the largest single manufacturing investment Tesla has proposed on paper."

    Advisory and consulting firm Kroll submitted the documents to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and noted if an agreement regarding tax incentives isn't reached, the project will exit Texas.

    Tesla has requested credits under the Jobs, Energy, Technology, and Innovation (JETI) Act. The incentive program aims to attract large, capital-intensive economic development projects by lowering the property taxes an entity must pay over 10 years if it meets requirements related to job creation and investment. For example, pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. recently announced that its forthcoming $2.3 billion Houston-area manufacturing site is a qualified project under the JETI program.

    Kroll predicts that the facility would create 9,712 new full-time jobs, over 1,100 construction jobs and billions of dollars in future property tax revenue, the documents show. Additionally, it says the project will spur $1.1 billion in local business expenditures and that Texas would increase its GDP by approximately $107 billion as a result of the project activities.

    Tesla opened its $200 million Megafactory in Brookshire, Texas, last year. The company is continuing its goal to deploy 100 gigawatts of solar manufacturing in the U.S before the end of 2028. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 100 gigawatts is equal to about 8 percent of the country's power grid capacity.

    ---

    This article originally appeared on EnergyCapitalHTX.com.

    Tech giant Apple opens Advanced Manufacturing Center at massive Houston facility

    up and running

    Cupertino, California-based Apple Inc. unveiled its Advanced Manufacturing Center in the Houston area last week, marking the completion of the second of three facilities the tech giant plans to launch in the city by the end of this year.

    The 20,000-square-foot training center will welcome small- and medium-sized businesses for free training and educational sessions to "help accelerate smart manufacturing across America," according to a release from Apple. Apple opened a similar Apple Manufacturing Academy in Detroit last year.

    The AMC is part of Apple's 500,000-square-foot site in northwest Harris County. It also features a massive manufacturing site for Apple’s advanced AI servers and Mac mini. The facility was originally slated to open in 2026, but Apple began producing its advanced AI servers ahead of schedule in 2025.

    The company said it plans to begin manufacturing its Mac mini at the site this year. The move will bring production of the compact desktop computer to the U.S. for the first time.

    “In less than nine months, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars into this Houston facility. We stood up a factory, started production, and shipped the first advanced AI servers off the line. Today, we’re thrilled to open our new Advanced Manufacturing Center, a place where businesses, workers, and students can learn the same innovative processes that we use to make Apple’s most groundbreaking products. And we’re pleased to begin Mac mini production later this year,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in the news release. “We believe in American workers and American ingenuity, and we are moving at an incredible pace because we want to build more than great products. We want to build the future of American manufacturing.”

    Apple's Advanced Manufacturing Center. Photos courtesy Apple

    Apple's Houston expansion is part of a $600 billion commitment the company made to the U.S. in 2025.

    The company originally announced plans in February 2025 to open a 250,000-square-foot Houston factory, but doubled the facility's planned size about a year later. Apple has reported that the factory will employ thousands of workers.

    “Houston is grateful to Apple for this significant investment in our city. The Advanced Manufacturing Center will create local jobs and will continue improving the quality of life of Houston residents," Houston Mayor John Whitmire added in the release. "The AMC also recognizes our city as a growing technology hub and solidifies Houston’s leadership in the manufacturing sector of the United States.”

    The opening comes on the heels of New Jersey-based pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. officially naming Houston home of its new $2.3 billion, state-of-the-art manufacturing site. Read more here.

    Nominations for the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards are due by Aug. 27

    Calling All Innovators

    Calling all Houston innovators: The 2026 Houston Innovation Awards, presented by InnovationMap, return this fall to celebrate the best and brightest in the Houston innovation ecosystem right now.

    We're asking you to nominate Houston's top innovators and startups for this year's awards. Nominations are open now through August 27 and can be made on behalf of yourself, your organization, and other influential leaders in the local innovation scene.

    The annual awards program recognizes the most innovative individuals and companies in Houston across 10 prestigious categories.

    This year's awards will honor the following categories:

    • Minority-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by BIPOC or LGBTQ+ representation.
    • Female-founded Business, honoring an innovative startup founded or co-founded by a woman.
    • Energy Transition Business, honoring an innovative startup providing a solution within renewables, climatetech, clean energy, alternative materials, circular economy, and beyond.
    • Health Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup within the health and medical technology sectors.
    • Deep Tech Business, honoring an innovative startup providing technology solutions based on substantial scientific or engineering challenges, including those in the AI, robotics, and space sectors.
    • Startup of the Year (People's Choice), honoring a startup celebrating a recent milestone or success. The winner will be selected by the community via an interactive voting experience.
    • Scaleup of the Year, honoring an innovative later-stage startup that's recently reached a significant milestone in company growth.
    • Incubator/Accelerator of the Year, honoring a local incubator or accelerator that is championing and fueling the growth of Houston startups.
    • Mentor of the Year, honoring an individual who dedicates their time and expertise to guide and support budding entrepreneurs.
    • Trailblazer, honoring an innovator who's made a lasting impact on the Houston innovation community.

    You have three weeks to submit nominees, so don't delay — nominate today at this link or fill out the form below. Qualified nominees will receive a formal application to complete, which will be reviewed by our esteemed panel of judges to determine the finalists and winners.

    More announcements about the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards are coming soon, including an introduction to this year's panel of judges. Interested in sponsoring the 2026 Houston Innovation Awards? Please contact sales@innovationmap.com.

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