Science Market Update

It seems that what you don't know just might hurt you when it comes to your immune system. Dr. Janko Nikolich-Zugich, immunobiologist at the University of Arizona and investigator with the BIO5 Institute, has been studying the effects of cytomegalovirus (CMV) on the human immune system's ability to combat other viruses such as West Nile or the flu as we get older. His research suggests that a person infected with CMV has a diminished immune response compared to an uninfected person.  The elderly in particular show a compromised immune response and even turn out to have a lower life expectancy. 

The summer of 2012 is set to go down as one of the driest and worst years for US farmers, but it's proving to be an excellent season for fruit science, especially at the University of Arizona, Tucson. In June we saw the sequencing of the tomato genome (technically a fruit), which was a breakthrough in genetics research. The Arizona Genomics Institute has now cracked another complex code: the genome of the banana.

When the Bio5 Institute's new building opened in 2007 north of Speedway on the University of Arizona (UA) campus in Tucson, it signalled a new period of growth and innovation that would link the UA Medical Center with interdisciplinary biomedical and life science research on the main UA campus.  The Bio5 building, also known as the Thomas W Keating Bioresearch Building (and formerly named the Institute for Biomedical Sciences & Biotechnology [IBSB]) is "a high-tech laboratory facility supporting interdisciplinary molecular life sciences research."

The University of Arizona has received a new $2.95 million competitively-awarded, NSF grant for a comprehensive study of the effect of monsoon weather patterns on the ecology of the Southwest. The study will integrate several diverse areas of study to give a comprehensive picture of the regions unique monsoon ecology. The grant was one of only two grants considered "outstanding" by the NSF during the application process.