A day after dedicating a new facility for pathogen research, the University of Texas-Galveston Medical Branch in Galveston announced yesterday (November 13) it will lay off roughly one-third of its workforce because of financial woes caused by damage from Hurricane Ike, which hit the region in September.

The majority of the 3,800 employees expected to be let go by mid-January will be hospital employees, not researchers, according to Matt Flores, a spokesman for the University of Texas System told The Scientist.

The Medical Branch owns and operates six hospitals in Galveston, as well as clinical and biomedical research facilities.

Hurricane Ike ripped through Texas on September 13, killing at least 37 and causing $710 million dollars worth of damage to the medical facilities, only $100 million of which is insured. The hurricane exacerbated the economic problems already facing the hospital, which serves a large percentage of under- and uninsured patients, Flores said. Before Ike, Flores said the hospital contained about 550 beds; now it will be reduced to roughly a 200-bed facility.

The medical school research facilities, however, are expected to remain "in tact," Flores said, adding that most researchers have already returned to their labs and resumed work.

"Living where we do, we start phasing down research as we see a storm approaching in the Gulf," Raul Reyes a spokesman for the Medical Branch told The Scientist. "Three days before [Ike hit] everything was locked down, specimens were packed with dry ice."

On Tuesday, officials dedicated the new Galveston National Lab, a BSL-4 facility, which is pending final certification. The lab was left virtually unscathed by Hurricane Ike, Reyes said.