Biozona Weekly: Profiles of NAU’s Keim, ASU’s Shangraw; Gowan enters green pesticide sector; UA Health Network

September 13, 2011

By hammersmith

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NAU researcher thrust into the maelstrom
09/12/2011 | Arizona Daily Sun | Eric Betz

On the morning of September 11, 2001, Paul Keim was out for a run with his dog on Observatory Mesa, oblivious to the events unfolding along the eastern seaboard. Within weeks, he would be sitting on the hood of his Toyota on the tarmac at Flagstaff Pulliam Airport when a blonde woman walked off a Gulfstream jet and handed him a package. “Dr. Keim, this is the anthrax,” she told him.


Cancer center expects influx
09/11/2011 | Arizona Republic | Ken Alltucker

It’s two weeks before the new Banner MD Anderson Cancer Center opens for patients, but its new appointment calendar is filling quickly. The early interest has Banner Health CEO Peter Fine and his staff talking about plans to expand the facility, which is 133,000 square feet. But Fine acknowledges that metro Phoenix patients will be the ultimate judge of how quickly the center grows.


Gowan partners with Colombia company to promote ‘green’ products
09/09/2011 | Yuma Sun | Chris McDaniel

Gowan Company of Yuma has reached an agreement with EcoFlora, a company in Colombia, to create a joint venture called EcoFlora AGRO. Through this joint venture, Gowan Company and its global marketing companies will be the exclusive partner in developing, registering, and marketing EcoFlora’s current unique plant extract based portfolio and their robust product pipeline.


Executive profile: R.F. ‘Rick’ Shangraw Jr. of Arizona State University
09/09/2011 | Phoenix Business Journal | Patrick O’Grady

Rick Shangraw has seen technology and growth from both the public and private sectors. Shangraw currently heads up Arizona State University’s Office of Knowledge Enterprise Development, which is designed to take the best of the university’s ideas and turn them into commercial realities.


UA-linked hospitals get new names
09/08/2011 | Arizona Daily Star | Stephanie Innes

University Medical Center is now called the University of Arizona Medical Center-University Campus. And University Physicians Healthcare Hospital at Kino will now be known as the University of Arizona Medical Center-South Campus. Both hospitals are part of the University of Arizona Health Network, which is the new name for the entity that formed in the summer of 2010 when University Medical Center Corp. merged with University Physicians Healthcare.


Phoenix OKs construction of $17 mil parking garage on Biomedical Campus
09/08/2011 | Downtown Devil | Jessica Zook

The City of Phoenix approved a proposal Wednesday for the construction of a $17 million parking garage downtown. The Boyer Company gained approval as the real-estate developer for the garage, which will serve the growing Phoenix Biomedical Campus and will be on the southeast corner of Fillmore and Fifth streets. Construction is scheduled to start in November 2012 and be complete by early February 2014.


Arizona has netted $2.6B in health-related stimulus since 2009
09/07/2011 | Business Journal | Angela Gonzales

Since the enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has made $2.6 billion in stimulus funds available in Arizona. Of that, $2.2 billion went for the increased federal share of state Medicaid costs, while another $106 million went to scientific research, facilities and equipment.


Innovations make tech incubator live up to its name (editorial)
09/07/2011 | Arizona Republic

The Innovations Technology Incubator is part of Chandler’s mission to create high-wage jobs for residents. The idea is to grow and foster ideas in science and technology. Once that happens, entrepreneurs would leave Innovations to buy or lease buildings, purchase equipment and create jobs in Chandler. Christine Mackay, Chandler’s economic-development director, says the city has been approached by new companies and existing tenants that need more space. The current facility is 100 percent occupied.


Regents panel OKs UA plans for 2 new research buildings
09/02/2011 | Arizona Daily Star | Becky Pallack

The University of Arizona is adding two new research buildings on the north side of Speedway to its wish list. Capital improvement plans were approved by an Arizona Board of Regents committee on Thursday. A proposed $85 million bioscience lab facility would be built near the Bio5 building for disease research.


ASU scientists receive $5 mil for DNA research

09/01/2011 | State Press | Kharli Mandeville

What if there was a way for doctors to know what diseases their patients were susceptible to before they even showed symptoms? Two Biodesign Institute researchers have been awarded more than $5 million in grants to further pursue research into a cutting edge technology to sequence an individual’s genetic information, or genome.