There are many human genetic diseases — for example, sickle-cell disease, cystic fibrosis and Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome — that currently have no cure and are caused by point mutations, for which there is a pressing need to develop precision genome editing tools able to correct these mutations with high efficiency and accuracy.

Assistant Professor Audrey Lapinaite from Arizona State University’s School of Molecular Sciences and the Biodesign Institute’s ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center is working on this problem and has just been awarded a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s New Innovator Award.Continue reading→

PHOENIX, Ariz. — October 4, 2022 — The Translational Genomics Research Institute, Part of City of Hope, and Stingray Therapeutics, Inc. of Dallas and Houston, Texas today announced a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) accelerated direct to phase II award of $2 Million. The NIH award, known as America’s Seed Fund, provides support to early-stage businesses to bring scientific innovations from bench to bedside.Continue reading→

Tempe, Ariz, September 27, 2022 – Tonight, the Maricopa County Community College District (MCCCD) Governing Board voted to appoint Dr. Steven R. Gonzales as MCCCD’s permanent Chancellor. Dr. Gonzales has led the system in an interim capacity since January 25, 2020, when he was appointed by the Governing Board after the departure of former Chancellor, Dr. Maria Harper-Marinick.Continue reading→

Roberta Diaz Brinton, PhD

Roberta Diaz Brinton, PhD, director of the University of Arizona Center for Innovation in Brain Science(CIBS) will be honored as the Arizona Bioscience Researcher of the Year by the Arizona Bioindustry Association (AZBio) at the 2022 AZBio Awards event Sept. 28 at the Phoenix Convention Center.

Dr. Brinton is a Regents Professor of Pharmacology with an additional appointment in neurology in the UArizona College of Medicine – Tucson and a member of BIO5 Institute. She returned to her alma mater in 2016 to create CIBS, a hybrid university/biotech research center designed to advance cures for Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS, through integrated discovery, translational and clinical science. Since its inception, CIBS has received more than $112 million in grants to advance cures for these neurodegenerative diseases.Continue reading→

– Aqualung will continue the P1A Healthy Human Volunteer Trial and complete the trial first half of 2023
– The Phase 2A study (PUERTA) will be initiated in the 2^nd half of 2023
– ALT-100 is the first humanized mAb therapy that targets the eNAMPT protein which plays a pivotal role in regulating inflammation and fibrosisContinue reading→

PHOENIX—September 26, 2022—A deep dive into the proteins and protein activities of human tumors grown in mouse models expands the potential therapeutic pathways to treat medulloblastoma, according to a new study published in the Journal of Proteome Research. Continue reading→

MADISON, Wis., Sept. 22, 2022 — Exact Sciences Corp., a leading provider of cancer screening and diagnostic tests, today awarded $525,000 in grants to eight federally qualified health centers focused on improving colorectal cancer screening rates in vulnerable populations.Continue reading→

PHOENIX—September 22, 2022—Vidium Animal Health announced today that it has entered a reseller agreement with Antech Diagnostics to provide SearchLight DNA^Ⓡ, the best-in-class genomic diagnostic for cancer in dogs, to Antech’s large North American customer base. Genomic diagnostics in general, and SearchLight DNA in particular, are a key part of expanding the use of personalized medicine in canine patients.
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TUCSON, AZ / ACCESSWIRE / September 21, 2022 / Aqualung Therapeutics, an immunotherapeutics biotech company with an anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrosis therapeutic platform for serious unchecked inflammatory and fibrotic disorders, has been awarded two 3-year NIH FAST-TRACK AWARDS [R42DK135208; R42HL160422) to support development of ALT-100, a humanized monoclonal antibody (mAb) therapy for the chronic indications of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension (PAH) and Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). The ALT-100 mAb targets the inflammation-inducing damage-associated molecular pattern protein eNAMPT, and is currently in Phase 1A human safety trials.

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