Featured Spotlights

The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson’s Juanita Merchant, MD, PhD, has been named one of 1,000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America by Cell Mentor, an online resource from Cell Press and Cell Signaling Technology that provides early-career researchers with career insights, publishing advice, and techniques on experimental processes and procedures.


The Thomas B. Boyer Liver Institute's Hepatitis C Treatment Program (HCTP), led by Juanita Merchant, MD, PhD and Geoffrey Block, MD, pursued the 340B designation, filling a desperate need in the community by offering patients discounted prescription drugs and other services.


University of Arizona Startup, ElectroSonix Sees Future for Heart Imaging Technology

ElectroSonix has licensed the University of Arizona patents for acoustoelectric imaging, a technology that has the potential to improve the accuracy of cardiac ablation procedures in treating cardiac arrhythmias—with other applications in neuroimaging of the brain as well. The firm’s chief science officer is UArizona Sarver Heart Center member and College of Medicine – Tucson medical imaging professor Dr. Russell Witte…


Dr. Lisa O’Neill Picked Among a Dozen National Health and Aging Policy Fellows

University of Arizona Geriatrics faculty member Dr. Lisa O’Neill was named a 2019-20 Health and Aging Policy Fellow with Columbia University’s National Program Office and travels to Washington, DC, in September for orientation on the year-long program.


284 Inventions Disclosed in FY19 Sets Record for UA, Says Tech Launch Arizona

University of Arizona employees disclosed 284 inventions in fiscal year 2019 – more than any other year in the university's history. The record-setting number is included in annual numbers just released by Tech Launch Arizona, the UA office that commercializes inventions stemming from research. Among the startups assisted by TLA this past year was Fibronox, which is working to treat fibrotic disorders with Nox4 small molecular inhibitors invented by Dr. Louise Hecker…


Banner Sponsors New Murals by Local Artists to Brighten Tucson Streets

The artwork of four local artists is being celebrated in five murals at locations around Tucson commissioned by Banner – University Medicine. “The city’s vibrant arts scene and colorful murals are part of what makes Tucson special,” said Dr. Chad Whelan, CEO of Banner Health’s academic division and an internist in the University of Arizona Department of Medicine. “We were looking for relaxing artwork that speaks to health, healing and togetherness”…


UA Startup to Commercialize Blood Test for Most Major Cancers

Researchers with the University of Arizona Cancer Center and UA College of Pharmacy have developed a new blood test that can detect most major cancers and have launched a startup, DesertDx, to bring the invention to doctors and their patients. Collaborators with company principals Dr. Mark Nelson, Dr. Bernard Futscher and Lukas Vrba include Drs. Linda Garland, Samuel Kim and Daruka Mahadevan, of the lung cancer research and phase 1 clinical trials teams…


Detecting Dementia's Damaging Effects on the Brain Before the Point of No Return

By studying a rare form of dementia, researchers—led by assistant professor in the UA Department of Speech, Language and Hearing Sciences Dr. Aneta Kielar—might have found a way to detect neurodegeneration before brain cells are lost for good. Earlier detection could provide therapeutic drug treatments a chance to work…


Dr. Louise Hecker Named ‘Inventor of the Year’ at Tech Launch Arizona’s I-Squared Awards

At its 6th Annual I-Squared (I²) Expo & Awards, Tech Launch Arizona recognized the greatest contributors to the local ecosystem of invention and commercialization from both inside and outside the University of Arizona. Dr. Louise Hecker, a respiratory researcher with the UA Department of Medicine whose BIO5 lab invented the first highly selective Nox4 small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of fibrotic disorders, including those affecting the lungs, was named the 2019 I-Squared Inventor of the Year…


Fibronox Licenses UA-Developed Small Molecule Inhibitor to Treat Life-Threatening Scarring

For many, time does not heal all wounds. That may be about to change. In the UA BIO5 Institute lab of Louise Hecker, PhD, researchers have developed the first highly selective Nox4 small molecule inhibitors for the treatment of fibrotic diseases. Her work has been funded by BIO5, the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs. The UA has licensed the technology to startup Fibronox to bring the invention to the public…


Keys Internships Lead to Scientific Publication for High School Students

Summer internships in the UA Health Sciences Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics laboratory of Dr. Yves Lussier at the BIO5 Institute led to realization of a prestigious scientific goal for three local students. The students participated in the KEYS Research Internship program this past summer working with both Drs. Lussier and Haiquan Li and helping to validate findings of a study that analyzed "junk DNA," the area of the DNA that does not code for proteins, and disease comorbidities…


UA Collaboration Aims at Stopping Cancer with a Smartphone

Using an affordable, portable device that attaches to a smartphone, a University of Arizona researcher in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and College of Optical Sciences, Dr. Dongkyun “DK” Kang and his collaborators in Boston and Uganda hope to save lives in rural Africa. With these confocal microscope attachments on a smartphone, they’re able to diagnose skin cancers and cervical cancers…


UA Researchers Make Next Move in Fight Against Ovarian Cancer

With an $863,000 grant from the U.S. Army, Dr. Jennifer Barton, University of Arizona BIO5 Institute director and professor of biomedical engineering, biosystems engineering, electrical and computer engineering and optical sciences, continues her research on a disposable falloposcope to detect early-stage ovarian cancer. The device is an endoscope used to image fallopian tubes, where researchers now believe ovarian cancer originates…


Graduating Sleep Fellow Holds Distinction of First NIH K12 Award for UA Health Sciences

Dr. Omavi Bailey, who graduates soon from the University of Arizona Sleep Medicine Fellowship, knows a lot about how a good night’s rest or lack thereof affects health and your mental state—particularly for men of African descent. His perspectives on the subject are as diverse as the life experiences from which he draws them, spanning Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the United States. Hear him at Family & Community Medicine Grand Rounds, Sept. 13, or the Sleep Medicine Lecture, Sept. 28…


Cure for Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis Target of UA Research Team with $4.4M DoD Grant

Dr. Louise Hecker leads the University of Arizona Health Sciences multidisciplinary research team that will develop and test pharmaceutical compounds for safety and efficacy in halting and potentially reversing this progressive lung disease of aging that has no cure—with most patients surviving only three years after diagnosis...


Is Your Office Affecting Your Health?

Workers in open office seating had less daytime stress and greater daytime activity levels compared to workers in private offices and cubicles, according to new research led by the University of Arizona Institute for Place, Wellbeing and Performance’s Drs. Esther Sternberg and Casey Lindberg. A paper on the topic was published in August in the journal, Occupational and Environmental Medicine...


Dr. Steve Goldman Appointed to C. Leonard Pfeiffer Chair of Cardiovascular Medicine at UA Sarver Heart Center Steve Goldman, MD, a highly productive heart research scientist and cardiology professor, was named to fill the Pfeiffer Chair.

Enzyme's Movement May Be Key to New Cancer Drugs

Revealing all the steps required to activate an enzyme called a protein kinase may identify new ways to target cancer, according to new University of Arizona-led research. First and senior authors, Drs. Senthil K. Ganesan and Wolfgang Peti, a member of the BIO5 Institute and UA Cancer Center, show their work in an article in the May 1 issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences


Tech Launch Arizona Assists GI Doc in Licensing Dual-View Endoscope Developed at UA

UA researchers Drs. Bhaskar Banerjee, a gastroenterologist, and Rongguang “Ron” Liang, in optical sciences, have invented a dual-view probe for medical endoscopy demonstrated to increase polyp detection rates 58 percent to 98 percent. Their startup, Omniscient, is working to bring the technology to the marketplace to aid patients who may suffer from colon cancer. Other uses are being explored…


UA Cancer Researchers Push New Frontiers in Immunotherapy

Cancer patients' immune systems are receiving a boost from checkpoint inhibitors and other lab-made antibodies that train T cells to attack cancer. This expanded understanding of cancer, genetics and immunobiology could revolutionize treatment. Researchers at the UA Cancer Center and Division of Hematology and Oncology are at the forefront of this new frontier. See what Drs. Julie Bauman, Daruka Mahadevan, Clara Curiel and Hani Babiker have to say about it…


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