Bioscience

[Source: Arizona Daily Wildcat]

Some undergraduate students analyze DNA, tumors or enzymes to earn their spending money.

Students working in labs within the Arizona Health Sciences Center are paid to contribute to research projects. Undergraduate students can be found in labs throughout research centers, the BIO5 Institute and the College of Medicine.

[UBRP is funded by grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).]

“There’s such a wonderful culture here of including undergraduate research,” said Carol Bender, director of the Undergraduate Biomedical Research Program (UBRP).

[UBRP is funded by grants from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI), the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET).]

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Bioscience

A recent discovery at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – that adult stem cells collected from fat tissue can be converted to cells that will grow cartilage tissue – has focused one Arizona Arthritis Center lab's research, promising new hope for osteoarthritis sufferers.

John A. Szivek, director of the UA Orthopaedic Research Laboratory and a senior scientist at the UA's Arizona Arthritis Center, is widely recognized for his studies on bone and cartilage regeneration with the goal of repairing damaged joints. In recent years, he and his team have focused on the complex problem of re-growing hyaline articular cartilage – the cartilage that covers the surface of bone in all our joints.

Bioscience

The National Science Foundation has awarded a $9.9 million grant to a University of Arizona-led team that will study the wild relatives of cultivated rice. As a news release from UA explains:

Part of RICE 2020, an international coordinated effort in rice functional genomics, the NSF funds the undertaking of functionally characterizing the genomes of all 24 rice species, with the goal of transforming not only crop biology but evolutionary biology as well.

Along with the studies that will be conducted by resarchers including BIO5 members Rod Wing, director of the Arizona Genomics Institute, and Michael Sanderson, professor in UA's department of ecology and evolutionary biology, the project includes a strong STEM-education outreach component:

The project will provide training and mentoring to postdoctoral scientists, graduate and undergraduate students and high school students with an interest in genome evolution, plant breeding and careers in academic and corporate science.

As an outreach component, the project will include a biannual Plant Science Family Night program at Ventana Vista Elementary School in Tucson, targeting K-5 students and families, with the goal of getting children and their families in the greater Tucson area excited about plants and the role plant science plays in ensuring a safe, sustainable and secure food supply for our planet.

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Bioscience

Arizona Heart Institute has started telling patients that it has filed for bankruptcy and is pursuing a sale to a Tennessee-based health-care company.

A Bankruptcy Court this week ordered the cardiac physicians group to inform patients about its financial standing and planned sale after the court's trustee raised concerns that patients need to know such details to make informed medical decisions about their care.

Heart Institute representatives argued that mandatory notification about the practice's bankruptcy filing and proposed sale to Vanguard Health Systems was unnecessary because it would not affect patients.

Bioscience

[Source: Arizona Republic]

This academic year is the second that Campo Verde High School in Gilbert has offered the Project Lead the Way program, a non-profit organization that works with school districts to offer the four-year biomedical courses as well as courses in other fields related to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). It also offers an engineering program, available in Gilbert Public Schools at Desert Ridge High School in Mesa.

Campo Verde's biomedical program is one of only two in the state - Douglas has the other - and is considered in the nation's top eight, Hardina said.

Four students and two teachers were invited to showcase the school's program in October at a Project Lead the Way conference in Washington, D.C., Hardina said.

The biomedical class is an elective course at Campo Verde, and has 110 students, including 37 in their second year of the program, he said.

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Bioscience

Heliae Development LLC has signed a 60-month lease at the 202 Business Park in Gilbert. Heliae is a spinoff company that started as part of the algae-based technology program at Arizona State University’s Polytechnic campus in Mesa.

The company is developing a technically viable process to produce aviation fuel from algae.

The lease transaction for 15,070 square feet was announced by Cushman & Wakefield of Arizona, which represented the landlord, Mountain West Industrial Properties in Greenwood Village, Colo. Heliae was represented by CB Richard Ellis in Phoenix.

Bioscience

A recently published study by Janet Funk, MD, at the University of Arizona College of Medicine adds to the literature supporting the potential health benefits of the spice turmeric, showing that it may be an effective resource for preventing osteoporosis, or bone loss, a significant concern for postmenopausal women, among others. The study findings also point to characteristics of the turmeric tested that may determine its efficacy.

Bioscience

This summer, the Helios Scholars Program at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) provided 44 students with eight weeks of hands-on, intensive research experience. In the video below, interns describe some of what they learned during the experience.

For more information, read this report on the 2010 Helios Scholars.

Bioscience

[Source: The Arizona Republic]

By Craig Barrett

As a business leader, I'm very impressed with the new educational strategy outlined in the Race to the Top application submitted by the state of Arizona in the second round of funding. Although Arizona did not receive funding for its application, we must not wait to take action. The time to act is now.

The Race to the Top plan will ensure a strong economic future for Arizona. Clearly, the business of Arizona has changed dramatically during the state's first 100 years. Copper, cotton, citrus, cattle and climate have been and still are key economic drivers. Today, Arizona is committed to high tech, aerospace, biotech and solar energy. Business leaders agree that the continued success of these new efforts and other 21st-century industries depends on college and career readiness and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education for all Arizona students.

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Bioscience

A University of Arizona-led consortium has been awarded $9.9 million from the National Science Foundation to develop a deeper understanding of the wild relatives of cultivated rice with the ultimate goal of creating next-generation varities that are better capable of withstanding drought and poorer soils and produce higher yields than current forms of domesticated rice.

The main goals are to study the genes of different wild rice species and identify genes that could be used to improve the crop.

Cereal crops – including rice – provide 60 percent of the calories and protein harvested worldwide, said UA plant scientist Rod Wing, who is director of the Arizona Genomics Institute in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, holder of the Bud Antle Endowed Chair for Excellence professor in the School of Plant Sciences and a member of the BIO5 Institute.