University leaders say cuts to the Kansas Bioscience Authority budget could have a negative impact on the state.

The KBA invests tax dollars in and nurtures new companies in the biosciences and life sciences fields. It’s been operating on a budget of more than $35 million per year in some years. State funding support, however, has fallen to about $4 million this year.

Kansas University Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little says the KBA helped the KU Cancer Center attain the National Cancer Institute designation and that the funding drop will hurt the university’s effort to expand the center’s focus.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports  that Kansas State University President Kirk Schulz also says the lack of KBA funding will hurt efforts to recruit top-ranked professors.