Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Biodesign Institute at ASU wins ‘Build America’ award

The joint venture team of Sundt Construction, Inc., and DPR Construction, Inc. has won a 2007 Aon Build America Award for construction of Building B at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. Build America Awards are often referred to as the “Oscars of the Construction Industry.” Sundt/DPR will receive the award during the Associated General Contractors of America annual convention in San Antonio, Texas on March 23.

Build America Awards showcase the best of construction, recognizing outstanding contractors building America’s buildings, bridges, roadways and municipal and utility construction. The Sundt/DPR joint venture was chosen for the award due to its overall excellence in project management and completion of the research facility, including its success at taking ownership of the institute’s distinct challenges, overcoming those challenges, and meeting goals.

The 183,000-square-foot Building B combines many of ASU’s top biomedical science programs, including research efforts in biotechnology, information technology, manufacturing, technology transfer and workforce development in one location. To complete the project on a timeframe that would allow ASU to fully utilize the laboratory for recruitment purposes and initial research, Sundt/DPR adopted a fast-track construction plan using phased documentation. This allowed the joint venture to deliver biotechnology and nanotechnology laboratories approximately one year faster than could have been accomplished using more conventional approaches.

The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University was designed by the team of Gould Evans Associates and Lord, Aeck & Sargent Architecture. The state-of-the-art facility was recently recognized internationally by R&D Magazine as the 2006 Laboratory of the Year.

Monday, March 19, 2007

C-Path using Rosetta's Resolver in predictive safety testing consortium

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) -- The Critical Path Institute will use Rosetta Biosoftware’s Resolver system, Rosetta said today. C-Path will use the software for data management and analysis in its Predictive Safety Testing Consortium, which is a collection of pharmaceutical companies that work with C-Path to share information that may help improve drug safety.

C-Path is a publicly funded research and education institute in Tuscon, Ariz., and is a research arm of the US Food and Drug Administration’s Critical Path Initiative. Financial terms of the deal were not released.

Thursday, March 1, 2007

UA and ASU Awarded $2 Million to Fund Joint Biomedical Research Projects

Source: Joe Caspermeyer, Arizona State University

Researchers at The University of Arizona and Arizona State University have been awarded more than $2 million to fund collaborative biomedical research projects designed to accelerate the translation of research discoveries to the clinic and target diseases such as asthma, Parkinson’s disease, valley fever and cancer.

“This new collaborative endeavor brings together some of the brightest minds in Arizona to tackle a number of important health care needs and further stimulate the rapid statewide expansion of biomedical research,” says Jonathan Fink, vice president of research and economic affairs at ASU. “If the number of applications we received is any indication, UA and ASU faculty are very enthusiastic about working together to advance human health. This initial funding makes these faculty collaborations possible and paves the way for future funding from federal sources,” says Leslie Tolbert, vice president for research at the UA.

The Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR), through the use of the voter-approved sales tax increase that created the Technology Research Infrastructure Fund (TRIF), approved the allocation of funds to promote cross disciplinary research projects between ASU and UA, with a strategic emphasis on building collaboration between ASU’s Biodesign Institute and UA’s BIO5 Institute in the initial year of funding.

A total of 10 research projects involving co-principal investigators from both universities will receive funding in the next year, with researchers at ASU’s Biodesign Institute and UA’s BIO5 Institute receiving nearly $1.2 million for four of the 10 research projects. The awards are designed to provide “seed money” to researchers for “proof-of-concept” projects and leverage further investment through external funding from federal granting agencies and industry. An additional $800,000 has been designated for six projects. The awards encompass a broad range of disciplines and expertise at both universities including chemistry, engineering, radiology, medicine, basic sciences and optical sciences.

“BIO5 and Biodesign have complementary strengths that are being combined for the benefit of the state of Arizona,” says BIO5 Director Vicki Chandler. “The strategic partnerships established between Biodesign and BIO5 will leverage our citizens’ investment in the significant expansion of university research capacity to improve the quality of life,” says George Poste, director of the Biodesign Institute.