Improving the quality of life in Arizona to benefit future generations.
A high-tech, venture-capital fund spawned by Gov. Janet Napolitano and Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has received its first funding commitment—a $25 million investment by the State Compensation Fund (SCF).
Since the fall of 2003, when educators and bioscience industry leaders completed the Arizona Bioscience Workforce Strategy, community and technical colleges around the state have been developing new programs and innovative ways to train more workers to meet the needs of Arizona's growing biosciences sector.
A report issued by the Office of Economic Affairs at Arizona State University recommends conversion of vacant "cleanrooms" previously used by the semiconductor industry to help resolve the metro Phoenix area's shortage of wet-lab space, a critical need in the development of Arizona's biosciences industry.
Gov. Janet Napolitano signed an executive order yesterday to create a 10-member Arizona Commission on Medical Education and Research, whose mission is to develop a plan to implement the expansion of the University of Arizona College of Medicine at the future Phoenix Biomedical Campus in partnership with Arizona State University.
Having made a career of tracking scientists everywhere from the Galapagos Island to the borderlands of the medical frontier, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jonathan Weiner's next destination is Phoenix, where he will be the inaugural featured speaker of the new Arizona Consortium for Medicine, Society and Values.
Stuart Williams--part inventor, part pioneer--has become both a fixture and a frontiersman in the changing Arizona biosciences landscape. A lab scientist by training, Williams is also an entrepreneur with over 50 innovations and a dozen patents to his name. We spoke with Williams about his career, the trials faced by researchers who want to commercialize their technology, and the underlying importance of self-reliance on the Arizona biosciences frontier.
At its meeting in late September, the Arizona Board of Regents approved funding and development plans for biosciences projects at both Arizona State University and the University of Arizona.
George Poste, director of the Biodesign Institute at ASU, was named 2004 Scientist of the Year by R&D magazine, which honors a scientist annually for his or her career accomplishments. Poste's career spans 38 years to date and includes such diverse scholarly and policymaking roles as molecular biologist, pharmaceutical developer, and bioterrorism adviser.
The Arizona Venture Capital Conference is gone, but there will be something new in its place: the Arizona Angel Investment Conference.
The City of Phoenix's new vision for its downtown, presented in draft form to the public last week, features biomedical research as a cornerstone element—more so, in fact, than in previous plans.
For information about Bioscience, please contact:
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