Arizona Bioscience News: COVID-19 in Arizona; GT Medical Technologies raises $16M; UA Center for Innovation at Oro Valley opens

December 3, 2020

By Matt Ellsworth

As Arizona surpasses 5,000 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, health leaders and researchers are sounding the alarm about hospital capacity and staffing and a looming crisis. The state is preparing to receive its first COVID-19 vaccine doses later this month, which will be free. And an Arizona biotech company is hoping to create a vaccine alternative to COVID-19 that would be in the form of a nasal spray.


Arizona adds record-high 5,442 new COVID-19 cases, 82 deaths as hospital beds hit 90% occupancy / Arizona Republic


Gov. Doug Ducey announces new enforcement measures for COVID-19, a first since summer surge / Arizona Republic


UA researchers say shelter-in-place order could avert ‘catastrophe’ in Arizona hospitals / Arizona Republic


Arizona health leaders want immediate COVID-19 intervention, including a curfew / Arizona Republic


Health expert says Arizona will have a hospital crisis even with interventions / KTAR


Arizona reports 85,000 new cases of COVID-19 in November, highest month on record / azfamily.com


Arizona hospitals scramble to boost staffing as state’s COVID-19 crisis deepens / Arizona Republic


Hospitals scramble to hire help as COVID-19 cases rise across Tucson / Arizona Daily Star


Report: Arizona’s hospitals could be overwhelmed in weeks / KJZZ


Gov. Doug Ducey says COVID-19 vaccine will be free; teachers will be prioritized / Arizona Republic


How Moderna COVID-19 vaccine could be key for rural Arizona communities / ABC 15


Arizona biotech company working to create nasal spray as alternative to COVID-19 vaccine / ABC 15


Local startup combines technology and life sciences for a new method of vaccines / Tucson Local Media


Arizona researchers say mutation in COVID-19 makes it easier to spread / KVOA


Biodesign Institute wins statewide innovation award for COVID-19 tests / State Press


Economic development execs: Pandemic, other pressures could impact corporate relocations to Valley / Phoenix Business Journal


Tempe brain tumor therapy company garners $16M in capital raise / Phoenix Business Journal

Tempe-based GT Medical Technologies Inc. has raised $16 million to expand its commercialization of a targeted radiation therapy for patients with brain tumors.


UA opens new biotech-focused business incubator in Oro Valley / Arizona Daily Star

The University of Arizona has opened the UA Center for Innovation at Oro Valley, its new biotech-focused business incubator, with a UArizona technology spinoff as its first tenant.


ASU fills key research leadership vacancy / KJZZ

Arizona State University has selected Sally C. Morton, a statistician and former dean of the College of Science at Virginia Tech, to lead its Knowledge Enterprise.


UA drug spinoff Reglagene aims to ‘turn off’ cancer / Arizona Daily Star

University of Arizona technology spinoff company Reglagene aims to combat cancer’s resistance to drugs with an approach that targets specific DNA structures in cancer genes known as quadraplexes, which regulate gene activity.


Banner Health to build $54 million Valley sports medicine facility / Phoenix Business Journal

Banner Health’s 80,000-square-foot sports medicine center at the Riverwalk at Talking Stick on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community set to open in late 2022 will offer orthopedics and sports medicine, surgery, physical therapy, imaging, a concussion center, performance training, nutrition, and sports psychology.


A Chandler student designed a tougher football helmet and won a national prize for it / Arizona Republic

A freshman attending Arizona College Prep’s Erie campus in Chandler earned a second-place prize in a national STEM competition for engineering a safer football helmet.


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