TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) â The head of the Kansas Bioscience Authority says the state-established entity will rely more heavily on private-sector support after significant state funding cuts.
The Lawrence Journal-World 
reports that Kevin Lockett recently took over as president and CEO. He says the agency doesn’t intend to fully separate from the state, although it’s working to transfer as much of its original mission as it can to the private sector.
His comments come less than a week after the group issued a statement that said KBA’s board of directors had voted “to shift the organization’s mission to the private market in 2016.”
KBA was established by the Legislature in 2004 to make investments and loans to startup bioscience companies and to make grants to state universities to conduct bioscience research.