by Bill Hart

In his November inaugural address, Arizona State University President Michael Crow gave notice to the world: ASU is ready.

Ready to evolve into one of the best, as well as biggest, of American universities; to leap into the top tier of national research institutions; to set "a new gold standard" for excellence among the world's large metropolitan universities.

The challenge, the new president said, would be "to respond to the explosion in knowledge production, increased specialization in academic disciplines, the rise of new disciplines, and the collapse of disciplinary boundaries that has increasingly taken place during the past half century."

Crow was talking about all of ASU, but he could have been talking about the Arizona Biodesign Institute -- ASU's first entry into the high-stakes race for national leadership in the exploding scientific universe of biophysics and nanotechnology.

Less than a month after the inaugural -- and less than six months since his arrival in Arizona -- Crow and top ASU officials and faculty are already deep into the planning for the $110 million project expected to house elite research teams in such key fields as bioengineering, nanotechnology, chemistry, physics and plant biology.

At present, the site is still just Parking Lot #44 on the east side of the ASU main campus. But the first 170,000 square-foot building -- the initial step in a total 800,000 square-foot, four-acre "mini-campus" -- is planned to open in fall 2004.

"This is our first step toward building our signature program in biosciences and bioengineering," Crow said, "which we think best positions us to be nationally competitive.

"It's also symbolic of the scale and speed at which we have to move to have any hope of being involved in national bioscience and bioengineering."

The institute, which will include internationally known plant biologist Charles Arntzen, will follow Crow's "entrepreneurial" approach for ASU by openly rewarding success. Arntzen and the other researchers selected for the institute are those with records of producing results and attracting federal grants. In fact, the Institute's research teams will have to generate significantly increased outside funding to "earn the right" to stay.

"We want this to demonstrate that ASU can move very quickly with a group of entrepreneurial faculty willing to work very hard," said Jonathan Fink, vice president for research and economic affairs, who will supervise the institute. "Hopefully, that will appeal to other groups of faculty who will step forward saying they'd like similar support to do something similarly bold."

The Institute's ambitious goals are set out in its Strategic Plan:

1. Build ASU's intellectual capacity to leverage federal research dollars more effectively

2. Build the quality of the graduate student population at ASU.

3. Enhance the collaborative fabric within ASU.

4. Stimulate collaborations with other institutions.

5. Provide research infrastructure to streamline the research enterprise.

6. Accelerate the discovery process.

7. Create jobs and stimulate the Metro Phoenix economy.

The potential rewards are enormous. The biomedical/technology area is one of the nation's fastest-growing and most financially promising. The Institute's plan notes that market capitalization in the industry grew by 156 percent in one year -- before the stock market slump -- rising from $137.9 billion in 1999 to $353.5 billion in 2000.

Universities and independent research centers around the country and world are rushing into the field, which promises eye-opening advances in everything from microscopic computing to genetic control of age-old diseases and disabilities.

In addition, the field encourages -- indeed, demands -- increasing cooperation among researchers from different scientific fields, from materials science to computers to engineering to biology and physics.

"One of the real problems within universities is we're too departmentalized, each in our own silo," said Arntzen, who holds the Nelson Presidential Chair in Plant Biology. "It (the institute) will try to break this down and find a reward system to get a physicist and an immunologist together."

Even the building itself will work toward this goal. The physical layout and design will promote collaboration across scientific fields and provide areas for exchanges and interactions among researchers and students.

And that includes outside researchers -- notably those from the new Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen, which just last spring announced it would locate its headquarters in downtown Phoenix. Led by world-renowned scientist and Arizona native Jeffrey Trent, the institute will collect tumor samples from hospitals and analyze them to understand the genetic factors underlying cancer.

The magnitude of TGen's arrival in Phoenix was described by ASU physics Prof. Stuart Lindsey -- also an Arizona Biodesign Institute member -- who concisely described the reaction of officials at the U.S. National Institutes of Health in Washington D.C.: "They were staggered by the news," Lindsay said. "Simply staggered."

Crow and Trent have already pledged close cooperation between ASU and TGen, as both have with the University of Arizona, which will expand it's medical school presence in Phoenix as part of a growing biomedical complex that should boost research and entrepreneurial efforts throughout Arizona.

The Arizona Biodesign Institute will focus on two general research areas, officials said. The first will involve vaccine production, new classes of pharmaceuticals, and physical rehabilitation engineering using microelectronics.

The second area will involve manipulating living systems at the molecular level, using single-molecule biophysics, nanoscale light-activated technologies, and "lab on a chip" biosystems. Specifically, the Institute's research areas and researchers are:

• Center for Protein and Peptide Pharmaceuticals, led by Dr. Colleen Brophy, vascular surgeon with the Veterans Administration Hospital in Phoenix and research professor in the Harrington Department of Bioengineering. The center will produce medications for vascular disease and cancer, as well as to help wounds heal.
• Center for Nanoscale Bio-Optical Technologies (NANOBOT), led by Neal Woodbury, professor of chemistry and biochemistry. The center will manipulate nanotechnology using light-driven chemistry and in using light to connect electrical systems with chemical systems.
• Center for Single Molecule Biophysics (SMB), led by Lindsay, Carson Presidential Chair in Physics. The center seeks to understand biophysical and other processes using the simplest models, either one or a small number of molecules.
• Center for Applied Nano BioScience (ANBC), led by Frederic Zenhausern, associate research professor of engineering. This center will seek to take the research of biologics and apply them to new technological devices, such as for nanosurgery or for home testing for diseases.
• Center for Neural Interface and Brain Control (NIBC), led by Jiping He, associate professor of bioengineering. The center will concentrate on understanding the interaction between the brain and neural implant devices and how to control assistive devices through thinking.
• Center for Production of Vaccines from Applied Crop Science (proVacs), led by Charles Arntzen. The center will develop plants as cheap, effective, orally administered vaccine production and distribution systems, especially for third-world, low-income countries.
• Evolutionary Functional Genomics (EFG), led by Sudhir Kumar, associate professor of biology. This center will study how genes, gene families and genomes or model organisms change over time, as well as how a single fertilized egg grows into a complex adult organism.
• Rehabilitation Neuroscience and Engineering, led by James Abbas and Ranu Jung, associate professors of bioengineering. Abbas is also on the staff of Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center. This center will seek to improve the lives of disabled individuals through technology that counteracts the effects of neurological disorders.

Crow, Fink and their colleagues are not shy about being judged. To be successful, they say, the institute must increase ASU's share of federal funds by a factor of five over five years; secure three "high-profile federally funded programs based on seed projects supported by the institute;" increase production and spin-off of intellectual property; increase competitive funding for graduate education; and secure major gifts.

Fink said the institute is expected to generate commercial returns, spin off private companies and attract others to locate in the area. Crow claims the institute "will become (financially) self-sustaining with non-state resources, and will leverage a 10-1 return on investment."

And it will hopefully herald a new era for ASU.

"This is absolutely a new approach for ASU," Lindsay said. "It's the first time somebody has said, 'Let's put a group of likely people in a building and step back and see what happens.'"

Fink agreed that the Institute's approach "is a shock to the system for us, in that normally we might evolve to this point in 15 years. But President Crow says 'the train is too far down the track.' We have to jump-start the whole process now."

Prof. Calvin Quate of Stanford University, an international figure in nanotechnology research, said it's not too late for places like ASU to get in the game.

"These areas are still very new, and are taking off in a great way," Quate said, "so I think (ASU) would do well to establish this sort of institute. The track records of the few I know are substantial."

As Lindsay said, "You've got to shoot for the moon."

Research to fund added buildings

Phase I of the Arizona Biodesign Institute, at the site of parking lot 44 (corner of Terrace and McAllister), is due to be completed in fall 2004. It allocates 170,000 square feet designed to optimize faculty collaboration across disciplines and create natural areas for programmed and serendipitous interactions.

"Our timetable is to have our first building ready next fall," said Scott Cole, associate vice president for Facilities Management. "Phase II we hope can be ready as early as late spring or the summer 2005, and the other two buildings sometime between 2005-07.

"We want this to be a park setting, complete with Sonoran Desert landscaping and picnic tables," Cole said. The ambiance of the setting should not be confused with the drive of the institute's key players. Additional research programming is expected to generate significant revenues, some of which will pay for construction of the additional phases.

It would not be possible to finance the additional facilities in the way ASU is financing the first building, because there is no money for the debt service.

Initial funding for the institute was obtained via request for investment in the state's economic future for $14 million to lease-purchase finance $185 million of research infrastructure.

"Over time, the return on investment can range from 5-to-1 to 10-to-1," said Virgil Renzulli, ASU vice president for Public Affairs. "This is a major step in ASU's effort to move from an agency model to an enterprise model, developing new revenue streams and making the university less dependent on state funding.

"This request will allow ASU to make effective use of the Prop. 301 funds," Renzulli said. "Those funds are currently limited and are just sufficient to meet the needs of new faculty and equipment necessary to implement the strategic initiatives of the Arizona Board of Regents."

Research to fund added buildings

This architectural rendering shows Phase I of the Biodesign Institute looking west along Orange Street from just east of the intersection of Orange and McAllister Avenue.

This aerial rendering looking northwest shows all four phases of the project.