The IBT was first established as part of the Texas A&M University System with the broad goal to expand biotechnology in the system. Plans for an institutional campus in Houston came to fruition in 1986 under Mr. David Eller (Chairman of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents) and Dr. Richard Wainerdi (Chairman and CEO of the Texas Medical Center). Dr. Eugene G. Sander, head of the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics in the Texas A&M College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (COALS) was named first director of the institute. The Robert A. Welch Foundation endowed a $1 million Robert A. Welch Chair in 1990.