
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, July 19, 1990                   TAG: 9007190545
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

$1.2 MILLION FOR TECH CENTER CLEARS HOUSE

Virginia Tech's proposed agricultural biotechnology center moved one step closer to reality Wednesday as the House of Representatives approved $1.2 million for the project.

But the university still has to find nearly $8 million more from the federal government and the General Assembly, which this year denied Tech's requests for funding.

The center, which would be built near the university golf course, would apply advances in biotechnology to agriculture. Biotechnology enables scientists to remove genetic information from one organism and insert it into another, endowing organisms with desirable traits they did not previously possess.

Tech officials welcomed the news Wednesday, calling the vote "a good start."

"It's great. Now we need to see if our senators can help us out," said Ernest Stout, associate provost for research. The bill moves next to the Senate for consideration.

by CNB