Bioscience

2009 estimates projected that in the United States alone 21,550 new cases of ovarian cancer would be diagnosed and 14,600 women would die of the disease. Often diagnosed in late stages, ovarian cancer has an asymptomatic onset and a relatively low 5-year survival rate of about 45%. Consequently investigation linked to survivorship is critical. A study published in the March 2010 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, is among the first to evaluate possible diet associations with ovarian cancer survival. Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago determined that there is a strong relationship between healthy eating and prolonged survival.

Bioscience

Intel receives National Governors Award for Arizona education program

NGA selects Intel Teach for public-private partnership award

Governor Jan Brewer today announced Intel Teach, a professional development program linking technology with education in the classroom, has been selected by the National Governors Association (NGA) to receive its Public-Private Partnership Award.

Governor Brewer nominated Intel Teach for this national award.

“I am thrilled to announce that NGA has chosen the Intel Corporation for its 4th Annual National Governors Association Public-Private Partnership Award for its partnership with the State of Arizona on the Intel Teach program,” said Governor Brewer. “This partnership is an important professional development tool in integrating technology directly to Arizona’s classrooms.”

Intel Teach helps teachers learn how to effectively incorporate technology in their classrooms, including how teachers teach and how students research, communicate, learn and present their work. This blended model of face-to-face and on-line professional development helps teachers to ensure that students develop critical thinking, problem solving and collaboration skills that will be applicable to any area of study and help prepare them for careers in the 21st century.

Since the beginning of the Intel Teach relationship almost 10 years ago, more than 17,500 Arizona educators have participated in this professional development. While Intel Teach has a common model for professional development, Arizona, like every state partnering with Intel, customizes the delivery model to best meet its needs.

In Arizona, that means using our existing infrastructure of 15 regional education agencies and Technology Integration Specialists, to deliver Intel Teach. This regional approach allows us to further customize the delivery with the support of district and school administrators to meet their needs.

Because Intel Teach is so closely aligned with Arizona goals, it has been designated as one of the state’s key initiatives for increasing the use of education technology in Arizona classrooms and is incorporated into Arizona’s Long-Range Strategic Educational Technology Plan.

Intel was presented with the award today at the NGA Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C.

Bioscience

Survey: Educators aren’t discussing STEM careers with students

Students say content is interesting, but teachers don't promote career options

By Meris Stansbury, Associate Editor

Feb 25th, 2010

Teachers say they don't have the time or the resources to discuss STEM career options with their students.

In a recent survey, a majority of students said that while their science and math teachers seem knowledgeable and keep class interesting, they aren’t teaching about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) career options. High school students also said they don’t believe STEM knowledge is integral to getting a good job, which doesn’t bode well for leaders counting on STEM education to keep the nation at the forefront of the global economy.

Spurred by the Obama administration’s “Educate to Innovate” campaign—a nationwide effort by U.S. companies, foundations, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations to help move America to the top of the pack in math and science education—the American Society for Quality (ASQ) commissioned market research firm Harris Interactive to conduct an online survey to uncover how well teachers transfer their knowledge and passion for science and math to their students and inspire them to pursue STEM careers.

The survey, conducted in December, asked more than a thousand students in grades 3-12 to provide a scaled report card (with grades ranging from A-F) on their science teachers’ classroom skills and activities.

Although 85 percent of students said their teachers deserve at least a “B” when it comes to knowledge about science topics (55 percent of students gave their teachers an “A”), 63 percent of high school students said their teachers are not doing a good job of talking to them about engineering careers (”C” or lower), and 42 percent of high school students said their teachers don’t ably demonstrate how science can be used in a career (”C” or lower).

Also, students in grades 7-12 are less likely than third through sixth graders to believe a person needs to be skilled science and math to get a good paying job (66 percent vs. 80 percent).

“We believe that as students get older and begin to diversify their studies and become more aware of the wide range of available career opportunities, they start to think that math and science aren’t necessarily critical to their job hunt,” said Maurice Ghysels, chair of ASQ’s Education Advisory Council.

“In some cases, a contributing factor is that some teachers aren’t doing all they can to connect the dots between the math [and] science work that students are doing on a daily basis and how it relates to the real world and their future careers.”

To read the full article, click on http://www.eschoolnews.com/2010/02/25/educators-not-discussing-stem-careers/

Bioscience

Arizona Oncology is proud to be a part of the larger network that just completed a recently conducted study by US Oncology and Aetna that finds evidence-based care for patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) results in an average cost savings of 35 percent over 12 months while demonstrating equivalent health outcomes. The study, which compared patients treated with evidence-based guidelines (also known as 'on pathway') to those treated with non-evidence-based guidelines (also known as 'off pathway'), was published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Oncology Practice. Arizona Oncology is united in healing with US Oncology and actively participates in the company's Level I Pathways program.

Bioscience

Arizona State University’s technology transfer arm is partnering with Japan Technology Group to collaborate on commercializing technologies from ASU and eight Japanese universities.

Arizona Technology Enterprises will market Japanese intellectual property in the U.S., while JTG will do the same for ASU in Japan. The goal is to accelerate the transition of university innovations into the marketplace.

Bioscience

UA bioscience students network with top Arizona companies

Luke Money, UA Daily Wildcat, February 25, 2010

UA bioscience students met with some of Arizona’s largest bioindustry companies during the Second Annual UA Student/Bioindustry Networking Event on Wednesday.

“We started this last year to show UA students what bioindustry opportunities there are in the state,” said Nina Ossanna, Bio5 Institute business development and strategic planning director and senior licensing associate for health sciences advanced projects. “It may be our second year doing it, but based on the response we’ve received this should become a regular event.”

Students were able to network with some of Arizona’s top bioscience companies. Approximately 175 students attended the event.

“Part of the mission of Bio5 is to build a pipeline between UA students and biomedical and bioengineering companies in Arizona,” said Kevin Hall, Bio5 Institute director of research training and career development. “Companies get to come in and see the quality of students we have here, and students can see what Arizona has to offer. It’s really a win-win.”

Ten private companies attended the event. They included Genomics USA, Ventana Medical Systems, and W.L. Gore.

“The UA has great engineering programs and lots of really quality students,” said Cody Bliss, a product specialist at W.L. Gore. “We like to get connected with students in our field, and there are lots of great students here.”

University Medical Center medical labs, UA Natural Products Center and UA Career Services were also present. 

“This kind of event is all about connecting students with the world of work,” said Cyndy Watson, an assistant director at Career Services. “Students may come here to earn a degree, but eventually they have to leave. Events like this help them to be prepared for what comes next in their lives.”

Students were also excited about the opportunities at the event.

“I came here to learn about internships in Tucson,” said Meredith Roberts, a biosystems engineering junior. “There are a lot of opportunities here for future networking.”

Source: http://wildcat.arizona.edu/news/bioscience-students-network-with-top-az-companies-1.1174632

Bioscience

Cancer researchers have high hopes for a new therapy for patients with certain types of lymphoma and leukemia.

This is one of 35 such trials under way through a partnership between the Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare and TGen, which enables molecular and genomic discoveries to reach patients through Phase I trials as quickly as possible.

Bioscience

St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center is launching the Valley’s first pediatric heart transplant program.

St. Joseph’s has been working for the past few years to create the pediatric heart transplant program, including recruiting surgeons and specialists, as well as two pediatric heart-failure cardiologists: Drs. Stephan Pophal and Edward Rhee. Hospital officials did not put a dollar figure on the cost to create the program.

Bioscience

Arizona State University, the University of Arizona and the founder of Abraxis BioScience Inc. are in early discussions to create a nonprofit organization to improve health outcomes and the way patient care is delivered.

The goal of the Health Transformation Institute is to link the three separate worlds of scientific discovery, health care delivery and reimbursement.
 

Bioscience

The impact of personalized medicine on the delivery of health care now and in the future is the focus of a national conference being sponsored by major players in the field of law, medicine and science on March 8-9, at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix.

"Personalized Medicine in the Clinic: Policy, Legal, and Ethical Implications," will be hosted by the Center for Law, Science & Innovation at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at ASU, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Mayo Clinic and the Food and Drug Law Institute (FDLI).