May 7 (Reuters) - Bio-Techne TECH.O on Wednesday beat Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit, driven by growth in its unit that provides proteins, antibodies and other products for research and said it is launching a new share buyback program.

The company, which develops and makes products used in medical research, drug development and diagnostics, said its board has approved the repurchase of up to $500 million of its common stock.

Bio-Techne's shares were trading 5.8% higher premarket.

CEO Kim Kelderman said despite the dynamic macroenvironment, the company saw improvement in its pharma end markets which boosted margins at its cell therapy and protein analysis instrumentation businesses.

Bio-Techne and other life sciences firms are bracing for a potentially negative impact from dented biotech spending and research funding cuts under the Trump administration.

Larger peer Thermo Fisher Scientific TMO.N cut its annual profit forecast, as it expects incremental costs to its operations of $400 million due to the sweeping tariffs levied by U.S. President Donald Trump and his proposed cuts to research funding.

Sales at Bio-Techne's larger protein sciences unit - which develops and manufactures biological compounds used for research, diagnostics and the development of cell and gene therapies - rose 6% to $227.7 million.

However, the company posted revenue of $316.2 million, falling short of analysts' estimate of $317.53 million for the quarter ended March 31, according to data compiled by LSEG.

On an adjusted basis, the Minnesota-based company posted a profit of 56 cents per share, surpassing estimates of 51 cents.

(Reporting by Padmanabhan Ananthan in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)

((Padmanabhan.Ananthan@thomsonreuters.com;))