A record number of KEYS alumni presented their research as the biosciences community recognized Kelle Hyland for her outstanding leadership in science outreach and education.

BIO5 member Deepta Bhattacharya is shepherding a new era in immunology research as the inaugural executive director of the U of A Health Sciences Center for Advanced Molecular and Immunological Therapies.

Using data collected from agricultural sensors, BIO5 member Nirav Merchant along with a team of other researchers, are creating a tool that combines virtual reality and artificial intelligence to analyze large datasets.

BIO5 member Cynthia Thomson, accepts her Lifetime Achievement Award at this year's UACC Awards Dinner. For several decades at the University of Arizona Comprehensive Cancer Center, that person has been Cynthia Thomson, who has changed the lives of patients, cancer survivors, students and colleagues through her passion for cancer prevention and compassion for people.

BIO5 member Jianqin Lu at the R. Ken Coit College of Pharmacy is the recipient of the 2024 Research Prize for Translational Science from the Cancer Center. Research prizes were awarded in support of excellence to recognize published work that has had the greatest impact on cancer research this year. 

BIO5 Member Justin Starren is a medical doctor turned data scientist who has been building bridges between people, computer systems and organizations for 30 years. Earlier this year, Starren joined the University of Arizona Health Sciences as the director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics and a professor of medical imaging at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

A new international study provides a shortlist of the wildlife species present at the market from which SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, most likely arose in late 2019. BIO5 member Michael Worobey was one of three co-corresponding authors on the paper.

BIO5 member Judith Su has led research that developed a new biological sensing method that can detect substances at the zeptomolar level – an astonishingly miniscule amount.

BIO5 member Taben Hale, has been named vice chair of the Department of Basic Medical Sciences (BMS) and associate dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix.

2022 BIO5 Postdoctoral Fellow Erik Blackwood is now a research assistant professor at the College of Medicine - Phoenix. He is working with BIO5 member and mentor Christopher Glembowski to understand the stress response systems in the heart, examining the progression from initial stress to heart failure.