The biotechnology sector in Austin has undergone significant growth since UT biology adjunct professor Matthew Winkler started the company Ambion 20 years ago.
When Ambion began operations in 1989, there were only a couple of biotechnology companies in Austin. It was a "virtual vacuum," Winkler said. While Austin's biotechnology hub does not compare to hubs in San Diego or Boston, it has gained traction in the field.
Winkler sold Ambion in 2006 and created another biotechnology company, Asuragen, which hatched Mirna Therapeutics, one of the more than 100 biotechnology companies in Austin.
UT professors and students will act as an engine of future growth of biotechnology in Austin because of the talented and productive scientists living in the city, Winkler said.
Biotechnology is defined as applying engineering and technology to biology to manufacture a product or substance.
The Austin Chamber of Commerce created the BioAustin Council in 2007 to foster an environment that promotes biotechnology. Curt Bilby, chair of the council, said UT provides a "critical foundation" for biotechnology.
"Without UT-Austin, there's not going to be the newer companies here, the backbone of the labor force or the collaborative research that is so important in biotech," Bilby said. "Without UT, we would be at a significant disadvantage."
Winkler said that while Austin has made progress in the biotechnology field, it still has a long way to go. He said the city lacks a medical school - something other biotech hubs have.
"Most biotechnology is health care-oriented; having a medical school provides the whole frame of reference to health care," Winkler said. "If you look at other biotechnology hubs, you will invariably find medical schools associated with them."
In February, the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce called for the creation of a medical school in Austin, noting that it would inject $2.4 billion a year into the city's economy, generate more than 19,000 jobs and expand biotechnology.
Though UT plays an important part in expanding biotechnology by providing a local workforce and research, it is venture capital firms that have funded start-up companies in Austin.
"A few years ago, there were no local venture capitalists," Winkler said. "Now, there are three venture capitalist firms with a biotech focus. It's a great start."
Life sciences venture capital firm Emergent Technologies launched three biotechnology companies out of UT last year. They were Mimetic Solutions, which came out of the lab of biomedical engineering professor Nikolaos Peppas, and Beacon Sciences and Reveal Sciences, which both came out of the lab of Eric Anslyn, a chemistry and biochemistry professor.
Grant Gibson, marketing director of Emergent Technologies, said that UT contributes to the biotechnology scene in Austin because investors will be interested in biotech when they see similar companies in the area.
John Sessler, a chemistry and biochemistry professor, co-founded the company Pharmacyclics in California in the early '90s, because Austin was not a hospitable place for biotechnology.
"In all our early fundraising, we were unable to get a single penny of venture support in Texas in the late '80s and early '90s," he said.
Sessler is now in the planning stages of creating a new company he wants to base in Austin.
"It's a completely different landscape than what it was 20 years ago," he said. "The University invested a lot of resources, the state has made efforts to make Texas a technology center, faculty are concerned and students are interested."
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