AgriLife News

About Texas AgriLife Research

Headquartered in the Research Valley, Texas AgriLife Research is not a singular entity, but a group of 14 research centers that stretch from El Paso to Beaumont and Amarillo to Weslaco. A member of The Texas A&M University System, Texas AgriLife Research (formerly the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station) claims 1,700 employees, of which 425 are doctoral-level scientists who are the top experts in their respective fields. Within the A&M System, the agency’s 2007 revenue sources of $155.6 million were second only to Texas A&M University.

Texas AgriLife Research beef cattle specialists have produced the world’s largest set of gene-mapping resources for beef cattle and have cloned what is believed to be the first animal - a calf - specifically cloned for disease resistance. Genomics research by AgriLife Research reaches well into plant improvement. Already in progress are projects on Texas cotton and grain and for developing new DNA chip and microarray technology.

Improving the competitiveness of Texas and Texas agriculture is a priority. For instance, scientists are working to develop early-season corn hybrids that are drought, heat and insect resistant. The Center for Agricultural Air Quality and Science has made substantial strides in developing technologies to sustain confined animal production without environmental degradation.

AgriLife Research researchers continue their quest to enhance human health and market efficiency while maintaining the affordability of agricultural products. BetaSweet carrots, with high levels of beta carotene, help prevent cancer. Work with the medical community to isolate limonoids and other naturally occurring constituents also holds real promise. And a new sampling method in poultry helps to rapidly detect salmonella contamination.

By collaborating with more than 30 countries, AgriLife Research is helping not only to strengthen the state’s position in the world market by developing strong customers for Texas products, but also to help other countries meet their own agricultural needs.

Biotechnology and Human Health
Many scientists with AgriLife Research conduct research pertaining to human medicine and health, often coupled directly with physicians and their studies.

Name a major illness affecting humans and likely there is research being done through Texas A&M AgriLife. Think of a less-common illness - PKU or copper deficiency in infants, for example - and there, too, scientists are looking for answers that could lead to cures. Disease prevention through better nutrition and development of healthier foods also weighs in heavily on the agricultural research agenda.

These and other direct benefits are what Texas consumers say they want from scientific research, according to a study of Texans' biotechnology perceptions by Dr. Don Albrecht, AgriLife Research rural sociologist.

"It seems that if we can take the big science pictures and make them personal, that is what people expect from biotechnology," Albrecht says. "They tend to ask, 'How is this going to benefit my life?'"

Take work by Dr. Jim Sacchettini, an AgriLife Research biochemist, to demystify the persistence of tuberculosis (TB).

Tuberculosis may not be common in Texas, but worldwide, the disease hits almost four million people a year, with more than 2.5 million fatal cases, according to the World Health Organization. A problem has been that the TB chemotherapy can be foiled by drug resistance and bacterial persistence.

In first-of-its-kind research pointing a way to treat persistent TB, "we began to define the enzymes that are essential for bacterial survival in the persistent stage," Sacchettini says. "We now know what bacteria use for energy to survive when they become persistent."

His work lends promise to the development of a new drug to treat the disease.