Talk from Tom

Talk from Tom is a regular feature of the Catalyst, offering the thoughts of Thomas O. Baldwin, Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. He is also the newly appointed Director of the Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology here at the University of Arizona.

Dear Alumni, Colleagues and Friends of Biochemistry,

Imagine being able to cure cancer and diabetes, prevent obesity and Alzheimer's Disease, and reduce the environmental impact of agriculture while producing agricultural crops tailored to human nutritional needs.

The world is entering into a new age of discovery; the Age of Biology will usher in opportunities and benefits for mankind of staggering proportion. Exciting advances in molecular life science technology offer scientists new tools for solving problems in medicine, agriculture, engineering and the natural sciences. Researchers across the country are already using newly developed techniques in genome sequencing, computational biology, structural biology, molecular biophysics, and other areas to improve our health and quality of life. Most of that research is currently conducted through separate disciplines.

At the University of Arizona, the pioneering Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology will bring together groups of faculty and students from the College of Science, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the College of Medicine, the College of Pharmacy, and the College of Engineering and Mines into a single facility, where they will interact, discover, analyze, and invent together. The combined expertise from disciplines normally housed separately will spark ideas and novel solutions that might not otherwise develop.

The 200,000 square-foot Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology will consist of core technology support laboratories, offices and laboratories for 50 faculty in 10 focal areas of excellence, clinical research space allowing easy interactions between physician-scientists and basic scientists, and flex space for short-term collaborations with industrial biotechnology colleagues. The building will also house experts in scientific ethics, communications, law and technology, and technology licensing.

This new space will facilitate easy, productive collaborations between faculty and students from diverse areas. Its design will also recognize the emergence of a new type of academic scientist: someone whose role it is to advance the technological cutting edge of his/her specific discipline, and who will make that technology available across the campus. As the technologists interact with each other, with teaching and research faculty, and with students, they will facilitate new developments in the technology they practice.

In particular, the Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology will address the genetics, detection, prevention and treatment of cancer, asthma, allergies, diabetes, and other diseases. It will better prepare our students for the future, draw biotechnology industries to Arizona, and offer a model for scientific interaction in the emerging field of interdisciplinary molecular life sciences.

Indeed, through the new Institute, the University of Arizona will play a leadership role in enhancing our global quality of life. The Institute for Biomedical Science and Biotechnology: a building for the emerging Age of Biology.

Tom