Media inquiries: Jessa B. Turner – Media & Public Relations Coordinator – UA Science & Technology Park – (520) 382-2485 ? jbturner@uatechpark.org

Subject: Top Innovators Recognized and Honored at The University of Arizona

(Tucson, Arizona) The University of Arizona (UA) honored faculty and students as outstanding innovators at the seventh annual Innovation Day at UA on Tuesday, March 24.

UA at the Leading Edge identified cutting edge researchers and their work to make our world a better place. Four faculty members and a UA Center were recognized for their leadership in technology innovation at the session. UA Leading Edge researchers included:

-Roger Angel, Ph.D. is developing new ways to make telescopes and their mirrors, and of making solar power by concentrating sunlight

-Michael Gehm, Ph.D. invention, design and construction of new optical sensor systems with unprecedented performance.

-Rainer Gruessner, M.D. research focused on all types of abdominal organ transplants as well as pancreas islet cell transplants to restore insulin production in patients who have had their pancreas removed, reducing or eliminating their risk for acquiring severe diabetes.

-Hong Hua, Ph.D. is developing new ways of visualization by merging augmented and virtual reality environments.

-Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) for innovative interdisciplinary research programs including high value transplant production, crop nutritional quality enhancement, new lighting technology for plant production, plant health sensing, food production in extreme climates and computerized environmental control of greenhouse.

The Technology Innovation Awards Luncheon recognized faculty members and students who excel in technology transfer and the application of their research into marketable products.

This year the faculty honoree was Dr. Eugene W. Gerner, Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Director of the Arizona Cancer Center’s Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancer program and BIO5 Institute member. Dr. Gerner received the award for his development of a two-drug combination shown to reduce the risk of recurrent colorectal polyps, a precursor to colon cancer, by up to 95 percent with minimal toxicity. Dr. Gerner is a co-founder of Cancer Prevention Pharmaceuticals, established to develop therapies to prevent cancer in people with elevated risks for the diseases. He also leads the Cancer Center’s prestigious federally funded Specialized Program of Research Excellence in GI cancers.

Samantha Kendrick, a final-year PhD candidate in the Cancer Center’s Cancer Biology Graduate Interdisciplinary Program, is the Student Technology Innovation Award winner. She is the first female recipient among either faculty or student top honorees in the program’s seven-year history.

Kendrick’s cancer research led to a major discovery in the BIO5 lab of Laurence Hurley, PhD – a new class of drug receptors and a lead compound. Kendrick’s dissertation project, chemo-sensitization by modulation of Bcl-2 expression, provides a new molecular target for treatment of cancers such as lymphomas that have become resistant to chemotherapy. Kendrick has also shown that a compound she identified resensitized drug-resistant tumor breast and lymphoma cancer cells to other clinically used drugs, a discovery that will benefit cancer patients who have drug-resistant tumors.

The Innovation Showcase Awards recognized student teams who have developed business plans from the McGuire Center for Entrepreneurship at the Eller College of Management. The companies were judged on various aspects of their business presentation. The Tradeshow Display Contest required teams to develop a professional display including the company name, logo, and mission or tag line. The Tradeshow Pitch contest judged teams based on their ability to deliver an effective verbal communication of their business concept. Best Tradeshow Display and Best Tradeshow Pitch student teams received $250. The People’s Choice Award was presented to the business venture that received the most Innovation Bucks from showcase attendees. The top student ventures overall were selected to present formally and three student teams won Best Venture Presentation.

Winning McGuire Student teams were:

DrinksDelivered- Best Tradeshow Display

Drinks Delivered LLC rethinks alcohol delivery with an express service that caters to our customers’ desire for convenience and quality alcoholic beverages.

Team Members: Melissa Foster, Michael Huhn, Sarah Mazur, Ryan Thomas, Eric Sindler, Deth Sao

G-Fabrications – Best Tradeshow Pitch

G-Fabrications offers wheel enthusiasts the ability to create their own, completely custom, aftermarket rims with our G-Fab online wheel designer.

Team Members: Lee Klein, Josh Klein, Colleen Quirk, Timothy Relinski, Rory Juneman, Pete Mittleholzer

Re+ – Best Tradeshow Display, People’s Choice Award and Best Venture Presentation

Re+ delivers purified water to consumers on the go through water bottle refill kiosks.

Team Members: Samuel Claussen, Nick Costello, Ben Garland, Harrison Roberts

TruckItNow.com – Best Tradeshow Display and Best Venture Presentation

TruckItNow is an online exchange website where shippers post available loads for free and truckers compete for those loads.

Team Members: Jarret Hamstreet, Cody Nicholls, Mickey Thompson, Edwards Hopkins Jr, Jonathan Confer

Yakaroni – Best Venture Presentation

Yakaroni provides an interactive multimedia website that makes it easy for grandparents to build memories with distant grandchildren.

Team Members: Charlie Crandall, Hyo- mi Kim, Jen Watson, Derek Burdsall, OJ FLores

Innovation Day at the UA celebrates technology development and innovation throughout the University. Next year, Innovation Day at the UA will be held on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 at the UA Student Union. Innovation Day is organized and hosted by the UA Office of University Research Parks and the Arizona Center for Innovation.

The event is sponsored by The Arizona Technology Council, Bellows Consulting, BizTucson, Hayes Soloway PC, Hecker & Muehlebach, PLLC, Raytheon Missile Systems, Research Corporation for Science Advancement, Solstice Capital, Southern Arizona Tech Council, Spectrum Printing, T.L. Roof & Associates Construction, Tucson Electric Power, UA Eller College of Management-McGuire Entrepreneur Program, University of Arizona Office of Technology Transfer and University of Arizona Vice President for Research.