Jen:  This is the PKF Texas Entrepreneur’s Playbook.  I’m Jen Lemanski, this week’s guest host, and I’m here with Ann Tanabe, the Chief Executive Officer for BioHouston.  Welcome back to the Playbook Ann.

Ann:  Thanks for having me Jen.

Jen:  So last time we talked about there’s a lot going on in the life science world coming here to Houston, are there programs that are attracting companies to come here to Texas and Houston?

Ann:  Yes, we here in Texas have a really innovative program to look for talent, not just companies but actually talent, and this is through our CPRIT program – the Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas.  It’s a $3 billion fund which deploys $300 million a year towards cancer and cancer prevention.

Jen:  Wow, so do they work with institutions in the Med Center and how do you guys get involved with that?

Ann:  Academic institutions in the Med Center do apply for grants and individual research grants.  We at BioHouston get involved because there’s a portion of the program that deploys funds for companies.  So companies that are actually in the clinic or close to being in the clinic to develop their products and that’s where we get involved.  We help companies learn, both here in Texas and outside of Texas, learn about the opportunity and go through the process of applying for the CPRIT grants.

Jen:  That’s really cool.  Well we’ll get you back to talk about some more ways that we’re innovating here in the life science sector, does that sound good?

Ann:  Sure, happy to do so.

Jen:  Perfect.  This has been another Thought Leader production brought to you by PKF Texas the Entrepreneur’s Playbook.  Tune in next week for another chapter.