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PHOENIX: UA, Phoenix, Businesses Join Forces On Bioindustry Drive to create flourishing hub in Arizona will cost an estimated $1.4 billion. A 10-year road map is outlined. TEYA VITU Tucson Citizen Friday, March 19, 2004 PHOENIX - University of Arizona scientists, Phoenix officials and representatives from the private sector agreed yesterday to join forces in a $1.4 billion quest to create a flourishing bioindustry research and commercial hub in the state. With $1 million from the Flinn Foundation, a 47-member committee that has worked together the past two years outlined a 10-year road map to put the state on the bioindustry map. About a third of the funding to launch the project is covered by Proposition 301 money and $440 million committed to bioscience facilities last year by the Legislature. Proposition 301 is a voter-approved state sales tax to improve education. Much of the remainder must come from the private sector, said Walter Plosila, the road map's author. "The theme for today is one letter: 'C' - C for collaboration," said John Murphy, executive director of the Flinn Foundation. Flinn hired Battelle Memorial Institute to spearhead a comprehensive analysis of Arizona's existing bio sector and plan for how to make it nationally competitive. The process revealed primary weaknesses: a crucial lack of laboratories across the state and weak private-sector investment. It also identified the three areas state bioindustry research and business should focus on: cancer research, neurological sciences and bioengineering - all UA strengths. Plosila predicted bioindustry could add 32,000 jobs in Arizona, most with above-average salaries. "We have a road map, a plan," said Plosila, a Battelle vice president. "I don't know any states that have moved as quickly. That's because people understand the importance of this." The process triggered the establishment of an Arizona cancer alliance among the public and private cancer entities, said Eugene Gerner, a UA professor of molecular biophysics and co-chairman of the road map's cancer research committee. "This is the first activity in Arizona that has really identified the reality of the situation that we have to be diversified (with funding) for survival," Gerner said. "If we want to be leaders, we have to interact with the private sector." UA, Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University have acknowledged that bioscience research requires close interaction between the three institutions. "All things that can be cured by one person in one lab have been done," said Joseph Rogers, president of the Sun Health Research Institute in Sun City. "What remains are disorders that will need combined resources." The road map process may allow Rogers to build a center for neurological aging and its disorders, specifically focusing on Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. He believes the high concentration of older residents in places like Green Valley and Yuma makes Arizona a prime place to study those diseases. "We need a center that gives us a real vehicle for talking together and working together." Rogers said. "This will provide a vehicle to integrate what's going on in Arizona that will profit what's being put together in Green Valley and Yuma." Phoenix officials in the past year have been touting UA and NAU when city promotional trips touch on bio subjects. "(The road map) brought us together in a collaborative way for the first time," said Patrick Grady, Phoenix community and economic development director. SOURCE: Tucson Citizen, AZ http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/index.php?page=business&story_id=031904a4_bio * * * ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn