The Kansas Bioscience Authority’s board of directors approved $8.4 million in new investments Wednesday, including $4.9 million over five years for Kansas State University to recruit a distinguished professor of veterinary medicine.

Jim Riviere, director for the Center of Chemical Toxicology Research and Pharmacokinetics at North Carolina State University, will become the first member of the National Academy of Science to join Kansas State.

Kansas State also hired his wife, Nancy Monteiro-Riviere, who will serve as a Regents Distinguished Scholar.

The KBA also approved a variety of other applications for funding on Wednesday, according to a statement from the authority, including:

• Two grants totaling $1.6 million for Epic Medical Concepts and Innovations, a Mission medical device company. The grants will enable the company to perform development work on two new neurological devices and support the company’s plan to hire 137 people over the next five years.

• A $1 million grant to Xenometrics, a Stilwell company, to retain the company’s offices and add 31 employees over five years.

• A $500,000 grant to Creche Innovations, of Overland Park. The grant will offset the company’s costs for a larger manufacturing facility and support its plans to hire 82 new employees.

• A purchase of $300,000 in equity in Novita Therpeutics, an Olathe company that develops medical devices and pharmaceuticals for cardiovascular, renal and gastrointestinal diseases. The investment, made alongside private investors, will help the company develop three cardiovascular medical devices and test prototypes.