International Textile Center becomes Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute

Written by Cory Chandler

In a move to better reflect the increasingly sophisticated molecular cotton and fiber research conducted through its facilities, the International Textile Center announced its decision to change its name to the Fiber and Biopolymer Research Institute (FBRI). This follows the review and approval of College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Dean John Burns, Provost William Marcy and other Texas Tech officials. “The new name was chosen to better communicate our research mission,” said M. Dean Ethridge, FBRI’s managing director. “Our efforts to enhance the economic value of cotton as an industrial raw material have increasingly involved research at the structural and molecular levels. From a structural/molecular viewpoint, cotton is an iconic example of a biopolymer. We believe the decisive technological advances of the future will come from such research and we are determined to help achieve breakthroughs that will secure cotton’s future as a dominant global fiber, as well as Texas’ position as a major supplier to the global market.” Additionally, the FBRI building has undergone recent renovation - enlarging the Materials Evaluation Laboratory and creating the institute’s new Biopolymer Research Laboratory (BRL). The BRL is fundamental to the institute’s longstanding mission to add value to natural fibers produced in Texas and an integral part of a growing collaboration with plant breeders, geneticists and biotechnologists. As always, the knowledge gleaned in the newly improved fiber and biopolymer research laboratories is verified and augmented by the yarn spinning and other processing laboratories at the institute.

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FBRI is part of the Department of Plant & Soil Science in the College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources. To contact FBRI personnel, call (806) 742-5333 or fax (806) 742-5343. The institute is located at 1001 East Loop 289.