Bioscience

Arizona State University's expanding research, education and entrepreneurial endeavors in photonics engineering and science has led to formation of the Center for Photonics Innovation.

The Arizona Board of Regents recently approved establishment of the center, which will combine university research and teaching resources in electrical engineering, physics, materials science and engineering, and bioengineering.

The center's research focuses on semiconductor photonic materials and devices and their applications. Photonics involves the generation and control of nearly all forms of light, including visible, infrared and ultraviolet light.

Its applications include communications, information processing, sensing, imaging, solar cells, solid state lighting, medical instruments, and technologies used in environmental-protection efforts.

Bioscience

The National Human Genome Research Institute has awarded $18 million in new grants to 10 scientists who are developing next-generation sequencing technologies such as polony sequencing, microfluidics, nanopores, single-molecule sequencing, arrays, and others, NHGRI said today.

The Revolutionary Genome Sequencing Technologies grants are aimed at funding new technologies that will lower the cost and quicken the speed of DNA sequencing so that these tools can be used in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment, as well as in biomedical research.

Bioscience

What happens when a soldier faces biological attack and has no known antidote available in the battlefield?

That's a major concern for the military as it seeks ways to protect soldiers who may face random attacks from unknown sources.

Scientists at Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute recently secured a two-year, $5.3 million U.S. Department of Defense research grant to develop drugs that can thwart that kind of a biological attack.

The research project comes with a major catch: ASU must prove it can make and dispense new drugs to treat unknown biological attacks in just seven days.

Bioscience

The archer fish, a skilled marksmen that shoots insects down from trees by spiting streams of water, spots prey that aren't in line with what's behind them, an ability once thought to be found only in mammals, according to a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) today (13th September).

The results suggest that the ability to see objects oriented differently than their backgrounds is "a fundamental building block of vision," said Susanna Martinez-Conde, a neurobiologist at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix, Arizona, who was not involved in the research.

Bioscience

Researchers from Arizona and Australia have teamed up with the help of a private grant to work on improving the prevention and treatment of skin cancer.

The $500,000 grant comes from The Atlantic Philanthropies - a private foundation that supports health and social projects - and will fund the partnership between Arizona Cancer Center and the new Pan-Pacific Skin Cancer Consortium with the Queensland Institute of Medical Research in Australia.

Bioscience

Social status in paper wasps is established earlier in life than scientists thought, says a study published this month in the journal PLoS ONE.

While many social insects have distinct social classes that differ in appearance and are fixed from birth, paper wasp society is more fluid -- all castes look alike, and any female can climb the social ladder and become a queen. Now, molecular analysis reveals that paper wasp social hierarchy is less flexible than it appears. Queens diverge from their lower-status sisters long before they reach adulthood, scientists say.

Bioscience

The first extraterrestrials to inhabit the moon probably won't be little green men, but they could be little green plants.

Researchers at the University of Arizona Controlled Environment Agriculture Center, known as CEAC, are demonstrating that plants from Earth could be grown hydroponically (without soil) on the moon or Mars, setting the table for astronauts who would find potatoes, peanuts, tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables awaiting their arrival.

The research team has built a prototype lunar greenhouse in the CEAC Extreme Climate Lab at UA's Campus Agricultural Center. It represents the last 18 feet of one of several tubular structures that would be part of a proposed lunar base. The tubes would be buried beneath the moon's surface to protect the plants and astronauts from deadly solar flares, micrometeorites and cosmic rays.

Bioscience

Power3 Medical Products, Inc. , a leading proteomics company focused on the development of innovative diagnostic tests in the fields of cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that it delivered four poster presentations at the 2010 International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease (ICAD) in Honolulu, Hawaii. These presentations discussed NuroPro®, Power3's diagnostic test, and focused on Power3's Alzheimer's disease blood serum biomarkers, test and clinical validation trials.

Bioscience

STEMSOFT Software Inc (“STEMSOFT”), the leading provider of software solutions for the cell therapy and transplant community, is pleased to announce the licensing of StemLab, the leading cell therapy and cord blood banking laboratory software, to the Celebration Stem Cell Centre (CSSC) in Gilbert, Arizona.

Bioscience

While Arizonans might prefer that Arizona be defined by its unique Sonoran desert, the Grand Canyon and gorgeous sunsets, it may well be better known today for its housing collapse and especially its tough new immigration law that Hispanics say makes them feel unwelcome.

"Our brand has been beaten up," said Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill during a panel discussion Wednesday on how to restore Arizona's image. Bidwill is also board chairman of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.