North Texas hasn't been a major player on the national medical research and biotechnology scene – but that may be about to change.

In the past month, UT Southwestern Medical Center has announced plans for a four-building, 13-acre biotech park. And Baylor Health Care System unveiled plans for a $350 million, 450,000-square-foot research and cancer treatment center, with aspirations of one day rivaling the prestigious M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Although these may be steps in the right direction, they're coming years after major medical technology investments in Massachusetts, California and North Carolina. Research Triangle Park in North Carolina, the nation's largest business science park, has a nearly 50-year head start on Dallas.

"You have the necessary ingredients in the Dallas area to have a major biotech presence," said Patrick Kelly, a vice president at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, a Washington, D.C., group promoting biotech business development. "One thing that may be lacking is a concerted plan to brand and promote it outside of Texas."

The biotech industry, or the business of using technology for scientific discoveries, can bring high-paying jobs and rich returns for those who invest in it, said Craig Casselberry, president of the Texas Coalition for Capital, a nonprofit group helping entrepreneurs find money from angel investors. Biotech investments "have some sex appeal because these are potentially some life-saving technologies," he said.

Most biotech companies are small, with fewer than 50 employees, and have yet to turn a profit, a 2003 Commerce Department survey found.

Making such businesses work requires the support of investors or larger partners as well as government regulations that encourage innovation.

But though Texas has received some recognition as a biotech-friendly state, and Gov. Rick Perry helped create a $10 billion bond program for cancer research, Texas biotech start-ups have had to fend for themselves by and large.

Dr. Jimmy Laferney, a vice president at Baylor Medical Center at Frisco and part-owner of a Plano-based med-tech start-up, said it's tough to get venture capital in North Texas.

Dr. Laferney's company, Veroscan Inc., uses tracking software to prevent medical errors. Veroscan is in its third round of financing and plans to start selling products in six months.

"Money coming out of Dallas for medical technology is really tough," Dr. Laferney said. "People tend to invest in what they know, and around here everybody knows telecommunications – TI-type stuff – but they really don't know medical."

But some North Texas investors are shifting their focus.

It's unclear how the credit crunch might affect this trend. Baylor, which had $1.2 billion in unrestricted cash and investments at the end of its fiscal year in June, says its plans won't be affected. Officials at UT Southwestern could not be reached for comment on whether recent developments could change their building plans.

Across the state, some venture capital funds have been putting money into medical technology.

Austin Ventures, a $3 billion venture capital firm based in Austin, introduced Santé Ventures, a venture capital firm with health care investment experience, in June 2007. Santé closed its first investment fund in December 2007, with $130 million in capital committed primarily to seed and early-stage companies in medical technologies and health care services.

Emergent Technologies Inc., another Austin-based venture capital firm, gave scientists at the University of Texas at Dallas and UT Southwestern a $25,000 check and another $25,000 worth of management help in June to develop a device for removing kidney stones. Emergent said the scientists' StoneMag System was strong enough to compete in the $1 billion-a-year urology device market.

Still, in Texas, the amount of venture capital invested in bioscience over the last six years came to $1.34 billion, according to the Biotechnology Industry Organization. Meanwhile, venture capitalists poured $7 billion into biotech in Massachusetts over those same six years.

Biotech investors tend to gravitate toward big-name universities on the West and Northeast coasts.

And sibling rivalries among Dallas, Houston and San Antonio also hurt the state's effort to bring in biotech investment, according to industry experts.

Dallas Mayor Tom Leppert's tongue-in-cheek comment at Baylor's recent announcement – "Now this eliminates the last reason anybody ever has to go to Houston" – drew laughter from the crowd, but it also hints at the regionalism Texas faces in securing biotech investments.

This month, the North Texas Enterprise Center for Technology in Frisco, a partnership between the Frisco Economic Development Corp. and the Hall Financial Group of Frisco, opened a 50,000-square-foot complex for fledgling medical technology businesses.

Perhaps the most recognizable biotech company already in North Texas is Reata Pharmaceuticals Inc. Irving-based Reata was founded by UT Southwestern scientists in September 2002 and has raised more than $66 million from investors.

Last year, Reata received $25 million in private funding to develop treatments for cancer and inflammation-related diseases such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis.

UT Southwestern's Venture Development group helps the school's enterprising scientists set up their own firms, often in exchange for an equity stake for the university.

Recent success stories include Myogen Inc., a Denver-based biopharmaceutical company focusing on treatments for cardiovascular disorders. That company was sold in 2006 to Gilead Sciences Inc. of California for $2.5 billion.

UT Southwestern's discoveries also led to the creation of Eliance Biotechnology, a Dallas company acquired in 2002 by MacroGenics Inc. The Rockville, Md., firm is developing treatments tied to the immune system for cancer, infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders.

"I would think that on paper Dallas could be a major player in the biotech industry," said Mr. Kelly of the Biotechnology Industry Organization. "I think there are, like, four [Nobel Prize] laureates at UT Southwestern. You've got to market it."

When it comes to attracting biotech investors, North Texas has another advantage: "The cost of living is starting to become a problem for California and Massachusetts," Mr. Kelly said. In a weakening economy, with the East and West Coast real estate markets in shambles, Texas might look more tempting.