June 9, 2022

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Hi Monica!

Good morning, welcome to the Phoenix Bioscience Core's weekly newsletter, featuring the latest news and announcements from around the PBC, upcoming events, and interesting things happening in the community. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up for our newsletter here!

In this edition:

• Calviri announces complete enrollment in canine cancer study. 🐶

• New shipping container development opens near the Core. 🏢

• Hear from Dr. Ayman Fanous of the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix. 🎸

🤳 Use the hashtag #PHXisBIO on social media to share any news about the Core.

PBC-based Calviri Inc. announced this week it has successfully enrolled 800 canine companions in its cancer vaccine study, Vaccine Against Canine Cancer Study (VACCS). This makes it the largest interventional canine cancer clinical trial in the history of clinical medicine. 

Calviri spun out of the Arizona State University Biodesign Institute with Dr. Stephen Johnston, who still holds a faculty appointment at ASU in addition to his work at Calviri (you can hear more about Dr. Johnston and his research here.). Since that time, Calviri has continued to blossom as a promising life sciences startup. Calviri’s ultimate goal is to change the way cancer is treated in both humans and our furry companions. 

The Downtown Phoenix community celebrated its newest member last week with the opening of the IDA on McKinley.The six-story apartment complex is constructed entirely out of shipping containers and is the tallest shipping container project in the nation. IDA on McKinley features 18 one-room and two-bedroom apartments, as well as room for ground floor commercial tenants. 

“What I’m trying to accomplish is changing hearts and minds one block at a time, particularly in the area of sustainability,” Kathleen Santin, partner at Local Studio told Downtown Phoenix Inc. “It’s what we’ve done from day one.”

Context:

IDA on McKinley is one of several residential projects happening around the Phoenix Bioscience Core right now. There are currently five new residential towers that have recently been completed or are in construction within two blocks of the PBC, totalling 1,500 units. And Fillmore Ave. which bisects the PBC, has 1,000 new units. The downtown restaurant, live music, sports and arts scene continues to strengthen, as well. 

The City of Phoenix is headed to San Diego to show case the incredible growth of Phoenix’s life sciences ecosystem, the growth of the PBC and more. If you’re headed out this week, come visit the booth to network, hear from industry and city leaders, and more. Additionally, be sure to root on PBC companies BacVax and OncoMyx as they present their technologies during the week! 

Dr. Ayman Fanous recently joined the University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix to lead the college’s psychiatry department. But Egyptian-born psychiatrist, who previously held appointments at State University of New York is more than just a renowned psychiatrist — he's also an accomplished musician with several albums to his name. 

Ayman Fanous, MD, plays both the guitar and bouzouki, a long-necked stringed instrument popular in the eastern Mediterranean of his roots. Last July, he performed at American University’s Tahrir Cultural Center in his native Cairo. His performance pulled from his latest CD, Negoum. The 2019 album, with cellist Frances-Marie Uitti, offers a more regional free-form sound in contrast to jazz fusion he played with New York artists including William Parker, Joe McPhee and Elliott Sharp.

Fanous is fascinated with the nexus between psychiatry and using music as potential treatment for mental illnesses such as schizophrenia. He calls the UArizona COMP his "dream job".

“I realized this was a chance in a lifetime to start a research program or department from the ground up,” he said. “It also seemed that there was a lot of potential energy and resources that could go into developing an area of psychiatry very near and dear to my heart, precision psychiatry, that I didn’t have at my other institution. The alignment here was perfect.”

The Phoenix Bioscience Core recently launched its new website! As part of that we built a new community calendar, aimed to curate all of the events happening in and around the PBC Community. You can visit the community calendar here. 

And if you have something you’d like to send us to add to the calendar, click here.  

If you have something you would like to add to the PBC newsletter, let us know! Use the hashtag #PHXisBIO on social media to share any news you see.

The Phoenix Bioscience Core is a joint collaboration between the city of Phoenix, Arizona's three public universities and the Arizona Board of Regents. Oversight provided by Arizona State University President Michael Crow, Northern Arizona University President José Luis Cruz Rivera, University of Arizona President Robert Robbins, Arizona Board of Regents Executive Director John Arnold, and City of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. Learn more.

Contact:

David Krietor, executive director, Phoenix Bioscience Core, dkrietor.pbc@azregents.edu

Joe Martin, communications manager, Phoenix Bioscience Core

jmartin.pbc@azregents.edu

Claudia Whitehead, Bioscience Healthcare Program Manager, City of Phoenix, claudia.whitehead@phoenix.gov