Our Mission
Improving Health
Impacting Arizona
Engaging Students
& Community
The BIO5 Institute connects and mobilizes hundreds of world-class plant, animal, and human bioscientists, engineers, physicians, and computational researchers to develop creative solutions for complex challenges such as disease, hunger, water and food safety, and other health issues facing Arizona.
This interdisciplinary approach has resulted in improved food crops, innovative diagnostics and devices, disease prevention strategies, and promising new therapies.
BIO5 initiatives and projects are carefully chosen to align with areas of state and national need and for which University of Arizona faculty already have significant expertise. This strategy catalyzes the capacity to expand impact, economic opportunity and external funding opportunities.
History
The BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona was launched in 2001 with financial support generated by the Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF), a special investment in higher education made possible by the passage of Proposition 301 by Arizona voters in November 2000. This tax was intended to expand major efforts in biomedicine and biotechnology in the state.
Funding for the Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building that houses BIO5 was generated primarily through Arizona House Bill 2529 and from a private philanthropic gift from Thomas W. Keating.
BIO5 aims to harness the collaborative power of our five core disciplines – Agriculture, Engineering, Medicine, Pharmacy, and Science - to find bold solutions to complex, biology-based challenges affecting humanity: How do we prevent, treat, and cure diseases? How do we address the many environmental issues we face? How do we feed a hungry planet?
Today
The Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF) funding that helped launch BIO5 continues to be a catalyst in establishing major initiatives which provide a return on investment to the people of Arizona. BIO5’s goals include:
Foster collaborative projects that address major challenges in the biosciences, biomedicine, and biotechnology and forge significant progress on novel treatments for asthma, cancer, valley fever, diabetes, sudden cardiac death, malnutrition, infectious disease, and Alzheimer’s and other age-related brain diseases.
Strengthen and expand translational research by recruiting the best and brightest faculty to Arizona and supporting projects that will advance the development of new medicines, devices, diagnostics, and nutritional and therapeutic strategies.
Engage and train our future generations of scientists by maintaining successful outreach and internship programs to promote experiential learning and STEM proficiency in the state.
Expand shared resources in computational biology, imaging, high throughput screening, genomics, proteomics and cell analysis across all life science disciplines to expedite large-scale, team science grants that will boost federal research funding, serve as a resource for local industry, and create new services and companies in Arizona.
Promote an entrepreneurial culture in which scientists work across disciplines to accelerate commercial translation of research breakthroughs.
