Campus:
Located on a 332-acre campus on the northwest side of San Antonio, Texas, SFBR partners with hundreds of researchers and institutions around the world, targeting advances in heart disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, hypertension, psychiatric disorders, diseases of the premature newborn, AIDS, hepatitis, malaria, parasitic infections and a host of other infectious diseases.

Staff:
Its staff of almost 400 employees includes a multidisciplinary team of approximately 70 doctoral-level scientists who lead nearly 180 major research projects in the Foundation's Departments of Genetics; Virology and Immunology; Physiology and Medicine; and Organic Chemistry; as well as the Southwest National Primate Research Center. Click here to view the SFBR organizational chart [PDF file].

Extraordinary Resources:
As they conduct their life-saving research, Foundation scientists have access to some extraordinary resources.

For example, SFBR is the site of the Southwest National Primate Research Center and the world's largest colony of baboons for biomedical research, including a unique pedigreed colony of nearly 2,000 animals. The Foundation enjoys a distinguished history in the innovative, humane and appropriate use of nonhuman primates for biomedical research.

The Foundation also is home to the nation's only privately owned biosafety level 4 (BSL-4) laboratory. This maximum containment lab allows for safe research on lethal pathogens for which there are no treatments or vaccines, including potential bio-terror agents and emerging tropical diseases.

Another resource that puts SFBR on the cutting edge of biomedical research is theAT AT&T Genomics Computing Center, which houses the world's largest computer cluster devoted to statistical genetic analysis. This high-performance computing facility allows scientists to search for disease-influencing genes at record speed.

Yesterday and Today:
SFBR, originally known as the Foundation of Applied Research, was created as a non-profit institution in 1941 through the philanthropic vision of Thomas B. Slick Jr., and philanthropy sustains it today. In addition to the competitive grants and contracts that fund SFBR's research, a significant portion of its $53 million annual budget* is met through the financial contributions of foundations, corporations and individuals. These generous donors share in the vision of SFBR's founder, who dreamed of building a “city of science” that would become a “great center for human progress through scientific research.”

*Numbers based on budget for 2006