Topeka ? Republican Gov. Sam Brownback has replaced former Democratic Gov. John Carlin as a member of an agency set up to nurture bioscience companies.

Brownback announced the appointment Monday of Manhattan resident Lee Borck to the Kansas Bioscience Authority. He’ll replace Carlin, whose term expired in mid-March.

Borck is chairman of the Beef Marketing Group Cooperative and Innovative Livestock Services, a farming and cattle-feeding company. Both have offices in Great Bend. His appointment must be confirmed by the state Senate.

Brownback and some fellow conservative Republicans in the Legislature have criticized the authority’s operations. Carlin has defended the agency and said he hadn’t expected to be reappointed.

Carlin was governor from 1979 to 1987 and had served on the Bioscience Authority since July 2006.