UT MD Anderson Cancer Center – 

UT Austin Research Collaborations

Leading the Global Effort to End Cancer

The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, ranked No. 1 in the nation for cancer care, and The University of Texas at Austin, one of the world’s top public research universities, are driving innovation in cancer research through strategic collaboration.

Building on their shared commitment to address one of the world’s greatest health challenges, researchers from both institutions have been engaged in joint cancer research projects with unprecedented scope – from highly specialized, patient-centric clinical studies to broader initiatives aimed at reducing cancer diagnoses across society.

And now, a new, comprehensive cancer center called the University of Texas at Austin Medical Center is being developed that will include a UT hospital and a MD Anderson Cancer Center. Here, patients will receive world-class care and benefit from research breakthroughs.

Collaborative Accelerator for Transformative Research Endeavors

The Collaborative Accelerator for Transformative Research Endeavors supports research initiatives that can grow to scale, break new ground, and become signature accomplishments for both institutions. Five cross-institutional collaborative teams have each been awarded up to $4 million in seed funding over 4.5 years to conduct complex research projects in areas relevant to cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and survival.

Collaboration in Oncological Data and Computational Science

The Oden Institute for Computational Engineering and Sciences, The Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) and UT MD Anderson are collaborating in oncological data and computational science research. The collaboration has resulted in discoveries of several new clinical approaches for cancer treatment as well as novel insights for improving outcomes for patients with unmet needs. In 2023, this collaboration formalized its partnership by establishing the Joint Center for Computational Oncology, which hosts joint postdoctoral researchers and a number of collaborative research efforts.

This collaboration combines:

• Medical expertise and rich medical data (UT MD Anderson)
• Mathematical modeling and computational medicine expertise (Oden Institute)
• Leading high-performance computing capabilities (TACC)

Opportunities for Engagement

Registration is open for the UT MD Anderson and UT Austin Collaborative Research Summit, which will be held April 9-10, 2026 in Houston. The summit agenda will feature research talks from grant awardees and existing collaborations, shedding light on exciting findings and new objectives being investigated. Additionally, attendees will hear from state leaders from both UT System and Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT).

UT MD Anderson and UT Austin researchers (faculty, trainees, and staff) are encouraged to submit poster or breakout session presentation abstracts for epidemiological, clinical, translational, or basic science research. 

Find Collaborators

Need assistance finding collaborators? Please fill out this survey and provide brief descriptions of your general topic area or research question and the type of expertise you’re looking for so that we can help connect you with potential collaborators.