The BIO5 Mission

BIO5 brings together scientists from five disciplines - agriculture, medicine, pharmacy, basic science and engineering - to treat disease, feed humanity and preserve livable environments. BIO5 creates science, industry and education partnerships to engage in leading-edge research, translate innovations to the market and to inspire and train the next generation of scientists.

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BIO5 names new associate, assistant directors

University of Arizona (UA) neuroscientist Carol Barnes has been named associate director of the BIO5 Institute and UA biomedical engineer Jennifer Barton has been named assistant director. Pharmacy professor Laurence Hurley is stepping down as associate director. His lab will remain in BIO5 and he will continue to provide leadership to BIO5’s Drug Discovery and Development Initiative.

“I appreciate Dr. Hurley’s contributions to BIO5 and welcome Dr. Barnes and Dr. Barton. They are brilliant scientists who understand the interdisciplinary nature of BIO5’s research agenda. They lead programs in their respective areas that connect people from different disciplines and backgrounds and they bring new leadership capacity to BIO5. I look forward to their contributions,” says BIO5 Interim Director Fernando D. Martinez.

Latest News

  • 2009 grad student, K-12 teacher collaboration underway
    The 2009 BioME Summer Institute in June marked the beginning of a year-long partnership between 10 University of Arizona (UA) graduate fellows from all areas of the life sciences and 14 Tucson K-12 teachers, who will work together in the teachers' classrooms this fall.
  • Tucson High student and BIO5 researcher earns Intel Science & Engineering Fair honors
    The prestigious Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) has recognized a Tucson High Magnet School (THMS) student for research that could one day help lead to new medications to treat addictions, delusions, and other mental illnesses.
  • Top high school students to perform scientific research at UA
    Thanks to generous statewide support, 22 exceptional southern Arizona high school students will have the chance to gain hands-on experience with the biosciences and environmental health science this summer during the annual KEYS (Keep Engaging Youth in Science) Internship Program. The University of Arizona’s BIO5 Institute and the Southwest Environmental Health Sciences Center (SWEHSC) at the UA College of Pharmacy direct the program.
  • UA research-based company may speed disease detection and drug development
    A company based on a University of Arizona chemist's research may one day speed drug discovery and disease detection.   The new company, bioVidria, was started by Mary Wirth, UA Professor of Chemistry and a BIO5 member. BioVidria takes microarrays―slides containing collections of molecules that are used to detect other molecules, including those whose presence indicates disease―and coats them with a very thin layer of silica nanoparticles. The nanoparticle-coated microarrays are 10 times more sensitive than microarrays without the coating, and so they can detect much smaller concentrations of molecules―and thus potentially also detect cancers and other diseases sooner than is currently possible. The coated microarrays can also aid in developing drugs to treat diseases, and they can help with other forms of chemical analysis.
  • Dr. Fernando Martinez to lecture on allergy and asthma Tues., June 30
    Sneeze, sneeze. Cough, cough.  If you don’t have allergies or asthma, someone in your house probably does.  Ever wonder what causes these symptoms? Fernando D. Martinez, MD, interim director of the BIO5 Institute at The University of Arizona in Tucson, can tell you. An internationally noted asthma researcher, Dr. Martinez will deliver a presentation titled, Genes and Environment at the Onset of Asthma and Allergies from noon - 1:30 p.m. on Tues., June 30 in the Kiewit Auditorium at the Arizona Cancer Center, 1501 N. Campbell Ave. in Tucson. The lecture is the latest installment of the Buffmire Lecture, sponsored by the Flinn Foundation.
  • UA’s BIO5 Institute hosting prestigious RECOMB 2009 conference
    UA’s BIO5 Institute is hosting the 13th Annual International Conference on Research in Computational Molecular Biology (RECOMB) May 17-21. The conference has attracted to Tucson, 250 top academic and industry computational biologists from 18 countries for the five-day event. Thirteen faculty, staff and students from the UA are participating, including Ecology and Evolutionary Biology professor Michael Hammer, who is one of seven conference keynote speakers. His UA affiliations include BIO5, Arizona Research Laboratories, Department of Anthropology, and the Arizona Cancer Center. To learn more, read Alan Fischer’s story in the Tucson Citizen: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/breakingnews/116563.php
  • Arizona bioscience company reps to join UA students at BIO5-hosted workforce development event
    7 Tucson-based companies and W.L. Gore from Flagstaff confirmed participants Arizona bioscience company scientists and human resource representatives will join UA life science, engineering and business students in the first BIO5-hosted bioindustry/student networking event Tues., April 14 from 4-5:30 pm at BIO5’s Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building, 1657 E. Helen St. in Tucson. Event sponsors include the BIO5 Institute at The University of Arizona (UA) and Bioindustry Organization of Southern Arizona, the regional affiliate of the Arizona BioIndustry Association (AZBio).
  • New Tucson Company Offers Hope of Faster Cancer Drug Development
    New University of Arizona spinoff company Luceome Biotechnologies will make a new technology - called Kinase Seeker - available to academic labs and drug companies worldwide. The technology could speed the development of drugs to treat cancers and other diseases. The company is owned and run by BIO5 member Indraneel Ghosh—who is the Weed Endowed Chair and Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry in the UA College of Science—and by former ImaRx Therapeutics Operations Vice President Dr. Reena Zutshi, who will serve as Luceome's chief executive officer. Ghosh will initially serve as chief scientific officer and then transition into an advisory role.
  • BIO5 Presents 3rd Annual Arizona K-12 Science Teacher Symposium Sat., April 18
    The morning and afternoon workshops, all of which are designed to enhance life sciences education in Arizona schools, include opportunities to build a Galileoscope, make soda-bottle biospheres, perform DNA fingerprinting, and analyze the genetics of breast cancer. Several workshops will take teachers into the Biosphere 2 dome, where they will collect environmental data within the desert, savannah and rainforest ecosystems. Teachers also will take part in an expo that highlights University of Arizona resources for K-12 science teachers, tour the facility, hear a keynote address about the current status of global climate change research, and network with other K-12 educators from around the state. On Saturday evening, former Biospherian Jane Poynter will talk about her two-year experience living and working inside Biosphere 2.
  • BIO5 Interim Director Fernando Martinez Named Regents Professor
    Dr. Martinez, a professor of pediatrics at the UA, is one of the most highly regarded researchers in the world in the area of childhood lung diseases.  
  • Renowned Bioscience Leaders to Address BIOZONA 2009 Conference
    Plenary speakers include: Roger Newton, Ph.D., is co-discoverer of Lipitor, the most prescribed cholesterol-reducing drug in the world. He worked at Warner-Lambert/Parke-Davis (now Pfizer) before starting Esperion Therapeutics, where he serves as founder, president and CEO.
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