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Record-breaking support

Members of The Forum leadership present a check to Texas Biomed President/CEO Larry Schlesinger, M.D., and former Vice President for Development Akudo Anyanwu, M.D. First row: Joannah Pickett, Akudo Anyanwu, Larry Schlesinger, Emilie Petty, Gloria Dilley, Triana Grossman. Second row: Rebecca Nathan, Jayme Russell, Adrianna Grossman, Christina Ketabchi, Elaine Vornsand, Lauren Biegler, Carolina Lewis, Bonnie Muecke.

The Texas Biomedical Forum’s fundraising efforts are well underway for the current season. The philanthropic group has set the bar high, having made a record-breaking donation of more than $862,000 this past fall.

The Forum, founded in 1970, is dedicated to raising awareness and financial support for Texas Biomed. Fundraising comes through membership, educational and social events, including one of San Antonio’s most anticipated events of the year: The Forum Gala held each May at The Argyle.

“We are thrilled that our efforts resulted in our largest donation to date and that we are powering the innovative research at Texas Biomed, which ultimately helps keep our families and families around the world safe and healthy,” says Emilie Petty, The Forum’s 2022-2023 President, who passed the leadership role to Rebecca Nathan for 2023-2024.

Funds from The Forum primarily support early phase research. Pilot grants enable researchers to pursue exciting new ideas, collect initial results and then use that data to apply for larger grants. Each year, Texas Biomed scientists submit applications for Forum grants, which are reviewed and awarded internally. Grants have helped fund a wide range of health and infectious disease research, such as aging, tuberculosis, malaria and COVID-19.

This year, pilot grants were awarded to:

  • Staff Scientist Anna Allué Guardia, Ph.D., to work on a new type of vaccine for tuberculosis, a disease that is one of the leading killers worldwide.
  • Staff Scientist Israel Guerrero-Arguero, Ph.D., to study Chikungunya virus, a mosquito-borne pathogen that causes rash, high fever, neurological symptoms and incapacitating joint pain that can persist for years. He will generate a version of the virus that fluoresces to easily observe the virus in cells and new animal models.
  • Assistant Professor Olena Shtanko, Ph.D., to study the interplay between Ebola virus infection and mitochondria, the energy-producing organelle of cells.
  • Associate Professor Smita Kulkarni, Ph.D., to study the role of long noncoding RNAs in Ebola virus infection in collaboration with Dr. Shtanko. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are large RNAs that do not directly translate into proteins but regulate expression of protein-coding genes.
  • Professor Luis Martinez-Sobrido, Ph.D., to work on developing a live attenuated vaccine for a group of deadly arenaviruses that cause hemorrhagic fever in humans, such as Lassa virus.

Texas Biomed thanks The Forum for its dedication and generous fundraising efforts, which are an essential part of the research process.

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