Arizona Biosciences News

Researchers from the University of Arizona are part of a team of academic and industry scientists from across the country that has received $44 million from the U.S. Department of Energy to develop new sources of algal biofuels and bioproducts. The federal funds will be matched by the private sector and cost-share funds.

At a trio of updates last week on Arizona's Bioscience Roadmap, experts in Phoenix, Flagstaff, and Tucson called attention to the exceptional growth that the biosciences have shown in terms of jobs, firms, and wages since 2002. But Arizona’s severe state budget deficit also led analysts to issue several warnings about the bio sector for 2010.

As the spring semester begins, Arizona State University is welcoming two significant additions in important segments of its bioscience enterprise: Denis Cortese, the former president and CEO of Mayo Clinic, and Lee Cheatham, previously the director of the Washington Technology Center.

Amid declining economic conditions in 2008 and 2009, Arizona’s bioscience industry continued its rapid growth in high-paying jobs and firms, and the state achieved notable gains in implementing its long-term plan to develop a thriving bioscience sector.

Before Arizona's top bioscience researchers were designing advanced diagnostics, extracting biofuels from algae, or synthesizing drugs to fight cancer, they were twelve year-olds sitting at desks, waiting for class to begin. And then--someone inspired them.