Published: 01.28.2008

UA-based Nuvogen licenses microplate washer

By Michelli Murphy

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

For many small biotech companies, licensing technology means success.

Tucson-based Nuvogen Research LLC hit another milestone this month after licensing its newest device — a fully automated microplate washer.

The washer, known as “Squirt,” will be manufactured and sold by MatriCal Inc., a Washington-based lab-instrument supplier.

Scientists Stephen Felder and Richard Kris spent three years developing the product for their consulting company, which is focused on creating technology to aid in drug discovery research.

Felder and Kris are partners and the sole employees of Nuvogen, based at a UA lab.

The partners are “more interested in developing new technology” than in manufacturing or sales, said Kris..

When scientists become entrepreneurs, well-designed products are created, said MatriCal CEO Dan Roark.

Published: 01.26.2008

UA labs research myriad sciences

Interdisciplinary teams tackling diverse subjects

By Dan Sorenson

You’d probably like Robert Gillies, or at least what he’s trying to do.

What’s not to like? He and his research group are trying to eliminate the need to repeatedly stab cancer patients with big, hollow biopsy needles.

But it’s hard to tell that from his titles and affiliations at the University of Arizona.

“I’m the director of the Advanced Research Institute for Biomedical Imaging. I’m appointed in the departments of radiology, biochemistry and molecular biophysics (as well as) the physiology, biomedical engineering and biological chemistry programs,” says Gillies.

“We do cancer imaging,” says Gillies of his ARIBI (Advanced Research Institute for Biomedical Imaging) role.

Published: 01.22.2008

Former Ventana Medical VP will head genomics firm here

By Jack Gillum

A former Tucson biotech executive is taking the reins of High Throughput Genomics Inc., the local company was to announce today.

Tim “TJ” Johnson becomes president and CEO of HTG. He is a former senior vice president at Oro Valley-based Ventana Medical Systems. More recently, he was a partner at Durham, N.C.-based LVC Consulting.

Johnson replaces William Radany as HTG’s CEO.

The new leadership comes three months after HTG said it would be getting a $10 million investment from Merck Capital Ventures LLC., an investment subsidiary of drug giant Merck & Co., as well as other venture-capital firms. That investment, experts said, marked a milestone for Southern Arizona’s biotech industry.

Published: 01.22.2008

Raytheon sells technology to extract oil from shale

By MARK JEWELL

AP BUSINESS WRITER

BOSTON – A major defense contractor is selling technology to a large oilfield services company that hopes microwaves will someday become a key tool in unlocking the vast but hard-to-extract oil reserves in the West’s underground shale deposits.

Much as a microwave oven heats food, Raytheon Co.’s technology relies on microwaves to generate underground heat and melt a waxy substance in the shale called kerogen so that it can be converted into oil. Carbon dioxide heated and pressurized into a liquid form then is used to extract the oil from the rock and carry it to a well.

The world’s fifth-largest defense contractor isn’t the only company focusing on microwaves or other heat-generating technologies to address an engineering challenge that oil companies have tried to crack for decades — so far with no efficient, environmentally sensitive method that’s proven commercially viable, despite rising oil prices.

UA teams scan skies for killer asteroids

Chance of collision with Earth not just science fiction

ALAN FISCHER

Published: 01.18.2008

Imagine if you will a huge asteroid hurtling through space on a high-speed collision course with Earth.

The story of the discovery of this space object – which could potentially obliterate life as we know it from the face of our planet – and the scramble to avoid such a catastrophic collision, could make a fine episode of Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone” or even a big-budget movie starring Bruce Willis.

But real life mirrors such TV and cinematic fiction here as local astronomers discover and track Near Earth Objects with the potential to pass close to – or even hit – the Earth or nearby planets.

Published: 01.13.2008

State’s title as capital of astronomy is eroding

Science leaders seek to protect $250M annual benefit for Arizona

By Dan Sorenson 

ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A supergroup of Arizona science leaders is calling for immediate action to protect and expand the $250 million-plus it says the state’s economy gets each year from non-commercial astronomy and space and planetary science research.

The group recommends expanding Arizona’s public- and private-sector strengths in astronomy and space sciences by having the state’s congressional delegation go after federal funding, further reducing light pollution in the face of rapid population growth, and creating a more welcoming atmosphere for observatories.

The Arizona Arts, Sciences and Technology Academy’s committee report tallies only the economic impact of the non-commercial part of Arizona’s astronomy and space sciences sector. It doesn’t quantify the economic impact of astronomy and space science “spin-off” or related industry and business.

Published: 01.04.2008

$30M donated for mirrors of LSS Telescope

By Eric Swedlund

Donations of $30 million to the Tucson-based Large Synoptic Survey Telescope project announced Thursday will be used to build the large core mirrors of the instrument, which will continuously scan and capture the night sky with the world’s biggest digital camera.

The donations — $20 million from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences and $10 million from Microsoft founder Bill Gates — represent some of the largest fundraising efforts to date for the $400 million telescope, which is expected to see “first light” atop the Cerro Pachón peak in northern Chile in 2014.

Gates called the telescope a “shared resource for all humanity” and “the ultimate network peripheral device to explore the universe,” according to a statement announcing the gift.

Scope will grab space images for you

ALAN FISCHER

Tucson Citizen

Published: 01.04.2008

A Tucson-based telescope project that will offer celestial images and data to the public soon will begin mirror construction after receiving $30 million.

The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope project received $20 million from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences and $10 million from Microsoft founder Bill Gates, said project manager Donald Sweeney.

The money will help fund the project’s three mirrors, two of which will be cast, polished and tested, beginning in March, at the University of Arizona, Sweeney said.

When completed in 2015, the LSST will offer near-instantaneous access to space images and data to anyone with Internet access.

“It’s like a supercharged Google Sky,” he said. “In this case the data are available as soon as we take it. It is raw science that is coming out.”