Prestigious science group names 7 at UA as fellows

By Eric Swedlund

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Seven University of Arizona scientists have been named as fellows by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, joining 449 others nationwide recognized this year for their scientific achievements.

The association is the world’s largest science organization, with more than 138,000 members nationwide. Fewer than 8 percent receive the title of fellow, an honor that dates to 1874.

The UA’s newest fellows are:

-Ian Pepper, professor of soil, water and environmental science and director of the UA’s environmental research lab.

-Howard Ochman, professor of biochemistry, and molecular and cellular biology.

-Hans VanEtten, professor of plant pathology.

-M. Bonner Denton, professor of chemistry.

-Hsinchun Chen, professor of management information systems.

-Aden Baker Meinel, professor emeritus of optical sciences.

By LARRY COPENHAVER

Published: 11.29.2006

Two buildings due to open Friday just south of University Medical Center are designed to bring researchers together to accelerate the pace of scientific discoveries.

The Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building and the adjoining College of Medicine’s Medical Research Building include laboratories that can be reconfigured quickly, accommodating changes in space and equipment requirements.

The bioresearch building will house the BIO5 Institute, which will do basic research in agriculture, medicine, pharmacy, basic science and engineering. Medical research will build on those findings.

“This new facility will bring together teams of researchers that will turn discoveries into treatments,” said Dr. Keith Joiner, dean of the College of Medicine.

University of Arizona Regents Professor Vicki L. Chandler, a driving force behind creation of the BIO5 Institute five years ago, expects cooperation to yield advances to prevent disease, increase global food supplies and protect the environment.

The Business Journal of Phoenix – 11:41 AM MST November 28, 2006

AmpliMed Corp. Tuesday announced an additional private placement of $8.5 million as it works on the development of anticancer drugs.

The latest investment raises the total for its Series B preferred round to $14.6 million. The Series B funding was led by Biotech Insight Ventures and included InvestBio Ventures, Valley Ventures and Solstice Capital, all of previous investors. To date, AmpliMed has raised more than $24 million in financing.

“AmpliMed continues to achieve significant milestones in the development of its anticancer drugs,” said Joel R. Smolen, managing general Partner at Biotech Insight Management L.L.C., which manages Biotech Insight Ventures L.P. “We are very excited about the company’s accomplishments over this past year and look forward to the outcomes of several key clinical trials in melanoma and pancreas cancer scheduled to be completed early next year.”

Tucson center shows how to market ideas

ANDREW JOHNSON

Published: 11.23.2006

Arizona Republic

As published in Tucson Citizen

Mark Banister and his business partners had an idea to make a disposable pump for delivering liquid drugs to patients, but they knew they were going to need outside help to turn their potential innovation into a successful business.

Enter the Tucson-based Arizona Center for Innovation, a high-tech business incubator founded in 2003 to help early-stage companies like Banister’s Medipacs LLC.

The center is one of a handful in the state that aim to nurture startup companies by giving them office and lab space, business-development services and support.

Having access to those resources can make or break new companies, according to small-business advocates.

New buildings at UA are labs of collaboration

By Dan Sorenson

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

It’s a lot to ask of two new buildings.

Expectations for the University of Arizona’s two newest buildings go far beyond the usual goals of attractive, functional shelter coming in under budget.

Administrators and advocates designed them to change the world. Both will be formally dedicated Dec. 1.

Peppered with attractively decorated meeting rooms of various sizes, for everything from one-on-one chats over coffee to conference room-sized brainstorming sessions, the emphasis is on drawing researchers of different disciplines together.

Even their labs are nothing like the windowless, fluorescent-lit, locked-door science tombs of the past. There are windows, natural light and modern colors nearly everywhere.

By Joe Pangburn, Inside Tucson Business

Southern Arizona is well positioned to succeed in the biosciences but it has to overcome the challenges of retaining faculty, staying at the cutting edge of research, developing sources of capital, commercializing technology from the University of Arizona and developing more interaction among biosciences firms and the university.

Those are the conclusions of the Southern Arizona Bioscience Roadmap, a study done by Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, and presented last week at the Southern Arizona Leadership Council’s annual retreat. The study, funded through a grant from the Flinn Foundation, sought to find ways to make Southern Arizona a leader in the biosciences industry.

“A lot of the ingredients are here, we just need to accelerate it,” said Roger Vogel, chairman and CEO of SEBRA, which produces instruments for biotechnology companies.

New group to tap $35M for science

By Eric Swedlund

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

“This whole process of trying to create a seriously competitive high-tech sector is one that takes constant attention … because the competition is moving very quickly.”

Bill Harris, president and CEO, Science Foundation Arizona

Science Foundation Arizona, the new group charged with distributing $35 million in state money to scientific research, will devote the bulk of the money to collaborative projects between the state’s universities and industries that demonstrate a direct benefit to Arizona.

The foundation’s funding priorities are laid out in an “investment strategy” announced this week, with a broad set of initiatives that include scientific grants spread from K-12 programs to the high-tech commercial sector.

“Our goal is pretty simple: How do we create a competitive advantage and how do we attract and retain the best scientists to the state?” said Bill Harris, the foundation’s president and CEO.

Businesses lack access system to universities

By Eric Swedlund

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Southern Arizona needs a more effective and accessible system to link local businesses with University of Arizona research and boost technology commercialization, participants in a forum in Tucson said Friday.

The UA’s Office of Technology Transfer provides links to all of the UA’s research and discoveries, but there isn’t a similarly functioning entity in the business community to act as a resource for private companies, meeting attendees said.

One speaker likened the situation to “a handshake with only one hand.”

The divide was the most frequently cited deficiency as about 35 people representing industry, universities, community colleges and economic-development groups from around the state met at Northern Trust Bank in east Tucson to brainstorm ways to boost technology commercialization in Arizona.

Study: S. Ariz. a key player in biosciences

Influx of high-wage jobs will come, ‘road map’ says

By Richard Ducote

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Southern Arizona will play a key role in the state’s emerging biosciences effort and high-wage jobs will be one of the benefits, a new study found.

The report, prepared by the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice, shows that Tucson-area employment in the biosciences excluding hospitals grew nearly 22 percent from 2001 to 2004, to nearly 2,000 workers at 112 firms.

The average bioscience worker in Southern Arizona earned $40,004 in 2004, the report said, which was 22 percent, or $7,227, more than the $32,777 earned on average by workers in the private sector.

The “road map” for the Tucson region’s growing bioscience sector localizes a broader study four years ago for the statewide effort to attract research dollars, emerging companies and attractive jobs.