Topeka — Without more money from the Legislature, Kansas will be left behind in the race for federal grants for medical and high-technology research, officials told state lawmakers Monday.
With new research in biology and genetics, scientists say they are on the brink of major breakthroughs in the treatment of diseases.
Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., testifies before a joint meeting of the Kansas House Appropriations Committee and Senate Ways and Means Committee. Roberts urged lawmakers Monday to finance scientific research at state universities to spur economic development in Kansas.
And through a collaboration of private and public institutions, including Kansas University, the Kansas City-area is trying to become a national leader in research and development of these new treatments.
But Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said the state must commit more funds to help the Kansas City-area life sciences initiative to build laboratories and hire nationally leading scientists.
That in turn will lead to more federal dollars flowing to Kansas through research grants, he said.
"Kansas' research infrastructure is aging and lags behind that of other states," Roberts told a joint meeting of the state Senate and House budget committees. "Kansas is being knocked out of the running for federal funds we should be getting because we don't have the facilities to do the job."
Roberts noted that President Bush has signaled that medical research will be a top priority by proposing a hefty increase in the budget for the National Institutes for Health. Several states are committing significant funds to make a run for federal research grants.
But in Kansas, Gov. Bill Graves and higher education officials are at odds over basic funding needs, such as how to pay for higher-than-expected heating costs and increased employee benefits.
No one from Graves' staff attended the meeting Monday on medical research, but Graves spokesman Don Brown said the governor has met with Roberts and other officials before about the issue.
Increased state funding for medical research is "a worthy goal," Brown said, but "there is a long line of worthy goals."
Kansas schools have increased their share of federal research grants in the past few years, but if KU, Kansas State and Wichita State's federal research dollars were combined, the total would rank 58th among all U.S. universities, Roberts said.
Sen. Sandy Praeger, a Lawrence Republican, attended the presentation on the life sciences initiative and said state policy-makers need to look beyond the current tight budget and think of the future.
"We need to plant the seeds today that will grow into the new economy of the future," she said. "We need to elevate the debate in terms of being proactive."
Praeger has said she would consider tax increases to produce more revenue.
Many lawmakers have expressed displeasure with Graves' proposed budget for higher education, which contains shortfalls in several areas, but at this point few have identified where more funds could be raised.
Senate President Dave Kerr, R-Hutchinson, said the state could help medical research by issuing bonds for the construction of laboratories and science buildings. But, he said, he would want specific requests from the life sciences initiative before making such a commitment.
William Neaves, president and chief executive of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Mo., and Dr. Michael Welch, vice chancellor for research at KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., testified to the economic as well as health benefits that could come from increased research.
Neaves said the recent research on the human genome "has opened the frontier of an opportunity that compares with the discovery of the New World half a millennium ago."
"Kansas stands at the threshold of a new age of discovery," he said.
While some states are kicking in hundreds of millions of dollars in state revenues to their respective research efforts, Neaves said he believed a $30 million annual commitment from Kansas would produce substantial benefits.
Neaves said that the Stowers Institute already has received nearly $600 million from its founders, Jim and Virginia Stowers, but that a nationally prominent research facility won't be realized without the support of public institutions such as the KU Medical Center, which is funded by the government.
Welch said that not only will the new discoveries fuel economic development in the area, but they will provide cutting-edge medical technology for everyone in the region.
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