The Big Number: $3.8 Billion

Spring 2025
By Silvia Cernea Clark

Houston was already world famous as the home of the largest medical center on the planet. And now Texas is making history as home to the second-largest public funder of cancer research in the U.S.: the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas. Since its inception in 2007,

CPRIT has invested over $3.8 billion across its various programs — second only to the National Cancer Institute in terms of research funding — which makes Texas one of the top 10 public financiers of cancer research in the world.

Thanks to a series of significant CPRIT awards over the last 14 years, Rice has been steadily advancing cancer research through funded projects, all while recruiting investigators who are discovering better ways to treat and prevent the disease.

Since September 2023 alone, this has led to a massively expanded research and innovation infrastructure at Rice that’s included the launch of a biotechnology accelerator and a series of centers and institutes closely aligned with CPRIT goals and priorities. 

Together, these initiatives provide an enhanced institutional framework to advance the understanding of cancer, expand collaborations with partners in the Texas Medical Center and drive the discovery and translation of breakthroughs at Rice.

Rice Biotech Launch Pad
Executive Director: Paul Wotton, Ph.D. 
Faculty Director: Omid Veiseh, professor of engineering, CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research

Rice Synthetic Biology Institute
Director: Caroline Ajo-Franklin, professor of biosciences, CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research

Rice Synthesis X Center
Director: Han Xiao, associate professor, CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research, in partnership with the Dan L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine

Center for Nanoscale Imaging Sciences
Director: Anna-Karin Gustavsson, Norman Hackerman-Welch Young Investigator,
assistant professor, CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research

Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative
In partnership with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center 
Joint leadership: Gang Bao, Foyt Family Professor of Bioengineering, CPRIT Scholar of Cancer Research and Dr. Jeffrey Molldrem, physician, MD Anderson Cancer Center

Center for Operations Research in Cancer
In partnership with the Institute for Data Science in Oncology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Joint leadership: Andrew Schaefer, Noah Harding Chair and Professor of Computational Applied Mathematics and Operations Research; Jeffrey H. Siewerdsen, professor, Department of Imaging Physics 

“In addition to the kind of collaborative work that Rice specializes in doing with its TMC partners, we know that artificial intelligence will also be critical to the future of cancer research,” said Ramamoorthy Ramesh, executive vice president for research at Rice. “Thanks in no small part to generous CPRIT funding, this means Rice is uniquely positioned to make the kinds of breakthroughs so desperately needed as cancer deaths are projected to increase globally over the next few decades.”

Recruiting Prowess
Since 2011, CPRIT awards to Rice have allowed the university to recruit leading researchers from across the nation,including Veiseh, Ajo-Franklin, Xiao, Gustavsson and Bao.

During last year’s Ken Kennedy Institute-hosted AI in Health Conference, Abria Magee, CPRIT senior program manager, outlined a road map for the future of the agency’s funding priorities, with an emphasis on product development research, which provides money for projects at Texas-based and Texas-bound companies developing novel products or services intended to benefit cancer patients.

“Our purpose is to improve patient care through innovation and product development, while also expanding the life sciences industry in Texas, creating new jobs and providing a direct return on taxpayer dollars,” Magee said. “So far we’ve awarded 80 grants or over $700 million, so that’s almost 70 companies that were either started here in Texas, expanded in Texas or brought to Texas from somewhere else.”

Most companies funded through the PDR program are from the Houston area, Magee noted. And for companies relocating to Texas, she emphasized the importance of collaboration with Texas-based academic institutions such as Rice as a key eligibility requirement, specifically noting Houston’s edge as home to the TMC.

Helix Park’s Collaborative Force 
Last fall, leaders and researchers from Rice and MD Anderson gathered in the new TMC3 Collaborative Building at Helix Park to celebrate the official launch of the Cancer Bioengineering Collaborative.

“As both institutions continue to make breakthroughs each and every day, this collaborative will really allow us to tackle the complex challenges of cancer care and treatment more effectively,” said Dr. Carin Hagberg, MD Anderson’s senior vice president and chief academic officer. “This collaborative will strengthen each other’s efforts and push the boundaries of what is possible in cancer care.”