Thanks to a $1.4 million grant from the Kleberg Foundation, UT Health Science Center researchers are studying bacteriophages, viruses that often attack and kill bacteria, from the soil on the historic King Ranch.

Philip Serwer, PhD; Steven C. Hardies, PhD; Borries Demeler, PhD; and Susan Weintraub, PhD, of the Department of Biochemistry at the UTHSCSA, are investigating phage growth patterns, phage genes, and the relationship of the genes to each other.

"Some of the science has already progressed so rapidly that the potential has not yet been digested," Dr. Serwer said.  The genomic sequence and advanced informatics of a highly unusual phage will soon be published in the journal Virology.

The Kleberg Foundation has also funded other projects at the Health Science Center, including the Kleberg Medical Scholars Program, research on breast cancer, brain tumors, HIV/AIDS and auditory nerves, and has also provided needed scholarships for the study of nursing and nutrition.