Nature-inspired science
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global impact
Year in review biodesign.asu.edu
Nature-inspired solutions for the world’s most pressing challenges At the Biodesign Institute, top scientists from around the world collaborate across disciplines to discover nature-inspired solutions that advance human health, community safety and global sustainability. In 2020, the Biodesign Institute, a premier scientific research institute at the nation’s most innovative university, rose to the ultimate challenge: to curb the coronavirus pandemic. Forging key partnerships across the state in government, health care, academia, industry and nonprofits, the Biodesign Institute united with the community to slow the spread of COVID-19 and provide help to those who need it most.
111 diseases under study
Amidst this enormous undertaking, Biodesign researchers continued to advance groundbreaking discoveries and innovations addressing society’s greatest challenges. This year, the institute also launched two new centers, which will accelerate our understanding of the human microbiome and the development of sustainable materials. Building on the success of the Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University united with Dublin City University — Ireland’s University of Enterprise and The Sunday Times University of the Year for 2021 — to launch Biodesign Europe. The partnership amplifies Biodesign’s strength in solutions-focused fundamental research and DCU’s expertise and international track record in bringing key technologies to market to accelerate scientific solutions — particularly at the convergent space of engineering, biology and computing. Areas of focus include health care technology, sustainable manufacturing, biotechnology, bioanalytical systems, sustainability for health and strategic industrial partnerships.
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Saving lives in a global pandemic As the novel coronavirus swept across the globe in early 2020, ASU researchers, faculty, staff and students sprang into action to fight the deadly pandemic. Biodesign Institute scientists developed the first publicly available saliva-based COVID-19 test in the nation. Joining forces with organizations across the state, the institute deployed hundreds of free testing sites and delivered nearly half a million results by the end of the year.
Filling the critical need for testing Testing is crucial to identify and isolate infected individuals, but labs have struggled to keep up with the massive demand. With unprecedented speed, ASU’s Biodesign Institute shifted its capabilities to create a clinically approved and certified COVID-19 testing lab in a mere two weeks. The Biodesign Institute was poised to make the rapid shift as researchers adapted automated diagnostic technology originally developed to detect radiation exposure to a new target: coronavirus genetic markers. The institute also was first in the United States to make its FDA-approved saliva-based COVID-19 test widely available to the public, with results typically delivered within 48 hours. The saliva test was a game-changer for several reasons. It is less invasive and uncomfortable for participants than nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs. It is safer for testing staff, because NP swabs often cause participants to cough or sneeze. Because of this, testing staff need less hard-to-find personal protective equipment. Biodesign’s high-throughput, robotic system runs thousands of samples a day, greatly increasing Arizona’s COVID-19 local testing capabilities and providing results quickly. The institute brought in a clinical pathologist to make sure the lab met strict regulatory standards, all while operating under extremely demanding conditions.
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By the end of December, the ASU Biodesign Clinical Testing Laboratory had processed nearly 500,000 COVID-19 tests. 5
Donor impact Piper Trust catalyzes COVID-19 response In March, the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust provided $2 million in emergency grants to support ASU’s COVID-19 response efforts. The funding vastly increased the university’s ability to test critical workers, assemble test kits for health care providers and manufacture personal protective equipment. The early investment enabled teams to mobilize at breakneck speed to become the first in the U.S. to offer public saliva testing at scale.
Providing tests to those who need them most Initially, ASU partnered with local organizations to provide COVID-19 tests to essential workers and underserved populations before expanding its saliva test network to include university students and employees. In early July, ASU forged a $30 million partnership with the Arizona Department of Health Services to launch hundreds of testing sites, offering free COVID-19 tests to anyone in the state.
Tracking the coronavirus genome contributes to a defense strategy When the first reported COVID-19 case appeared in Arizona in January, an ASU team partnered with the Translational Genomics Institute, University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University to track the virus and study how it may be spreading, mutating and adapting over time. Using new next-generation sequencing technology, the scientists obtain rapid readings of all 30,000 chemical letters of the SARS-CoV-2 genetic code, depositing each sequence into a worldwide gene bank. The team published results from the research in May, providing early, key information for development of antiviral drugs or vaccines.
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Addressing the state’s critical PPE shortage As a shortage of personal protective equipment threatened health care providers working hard to save lives, ASU ramped up efforts to design, produce and distribute critically needed PPE and other medical supplies. The Biodesign Institute teamed up with ASU’s student-led Luminosity Lab, which created an online platform to link university and community resources such as 3D printers and sewing machines with medical providers in need of personal protective equipment. The PPE Response Network quickly partnered with a number of organizations — Banner Health, Equality Health, Dignity Health, HonorHealth and Arizona Academy of Family Physicians, among others — to get their equipment needs registered and underway. For hospitals sterilizing and reusing equipment to shore up supplies, ASU researchers developed a variety of options to make sterilization fast, effective and affordable. Taking COVID-19 testing to the next level ASU researchers are now developing a new, portable, saliva-based COVID-19 test that will deliver results in as little as 20 minutes. Through this point-of-need test, users will be able to easily provide a saliva sample on a computer chip that will quickly detect whether the virus is present. The new rapid saliva test provides the best of two worlds: the speed of existing antigen tests and the greater accuracy of PCR-based RNA tests.
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Protecting human health Biologists, chemists, engineers, data scientists and other top experts unite at the Biodesign Institute in their common drive to determine what causes disease, create technology that leads to early detection, discover treatments to prevent problems altogether and optimize health overall.
Detecting gene mutations before they cause harm A typo appearing in the draft of a novel is no great calamity. Nature, however, is often less forgiving of errors. A change in just one letter of the genetic code — known as a point mutation — can have catastrophic consequences for human health. Biodesign researchers have developed a new method for detecting point mutations that offers promise for accurate early diagnosis and better treatment options. The technique can be applied to living cells, offering a rapid, highly accurate and inexpensive means of identifying health-threatening mutations.
Cornering a prolific killer Tularemia is a rare but often lethal disease. It is caused by one of the most aggressive pathogens on earth, the bacterium Francisella tularensis, which also poses a bioterror risk. The microbe, transported by a variety of animals and insects, enters and attacks the body through a range of pathways, causing different constellations of symptoms and severity. Biodesign researchers have examined a key membrane protein responsible for the bacterium’s prodigious ability to infect the body and cause illness. This virulence factor has been visualized in unprecedented detail with the aid of an X-ray free electron laser (XFEL), a massive and powerful instrument able to reveal biomolecules like proteins with astonishing clarity. Their work is a first step toward developing effective treatments for tularemia.
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Donor impact
Fine-tuning microbes to treat obesity Already considered a global epidemic, obesity continues to rise, affecting over 40% of the U.S. population, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With health care costs approaching $316 billion dollars annually in the U.S., knowing how to treat obesity will result in a healthier population and help reduce runaway medical costs. Researchers at Biodesign are exploring new therapies that use the body’s complex colonies of gut microbes to micromanage weight. In a recent study, they provided new insights on the changes to the composition of gut bacteria following gastric bypass surgery. The work offers hope that obesity may one day be managed through noninvasive therapy, such as a customized probiotic, reducing the need for costly and risky surgery.
Benter Foundation funds Alzheimer’s research The number of Americans with Alzheimer’s disease is growing fast. Currently, an estimated 5.8 million Americans age 65 or older are living with this devastating form of dementia. The Benter Foundation is funding research at Biodesign that uses big data analysis tools to study the genes that are inherited and those that are preferentially turned on or off in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s. The work has already provided evidence to suggest that certain species of herpesviruses contribute to the development of the disease.
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Revealing the surprising role of the microbiome in human health The human body is teeming with nonhuman life forms — vast ecosystems of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microbes scientists have only begun to probe. Collectively, they are known as the microbiome, and they play a surprisingly large role in health and disease. The new Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes will advance groundbreaking research into the subtle activities of microbial communities and investigate potential microbial-based therapies for disorders including obesity, Type 2 diabetes, altered drug metabolism, autism, depression, severe infections, irritable bowel syndrome, colon cancer and a range of other afflictions.
New hope for smarter drugs for heart failure Cardiac disease is the most lethal disease worldwide, and it kills one person every 37 seconds in the United States. Biodesign scientists have zeroed in on a specific receptor that acts as a major regulator of cardiac function, called beta-1 adrenergic receptor. Reduced activity in β1-ARs is responsible for most cases of heart failure, one of the leading causes of medical problems worldwide. Using cryo-electron microscopy, scientists examined this vital protein complex and its binding with unprecedented clarity. The structural revelations will help guide the design and development of smarter drugs to address this deadly disease.
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Harnessing science to protect planet Earth From access to safe drinking water to the development of sustainable energy sources to ridding the planet of plastic pollution, Biodesign researchers are taking their cues from the ultimate innovator — nature.
Superfund, meet super bacteria Decontamination of the nation’s numerous Superfund sites is a public health priority, but the technical challenges are daunting. Chlorinated chemicals known as TCE and perchlorate pose a particular hazard. Due to widespread use and improper disposal, these chemicals have found their way into the environment, threatening human health and surrounding ecosystems. Biodesign researchers have developed new techniques to help clean up contaminated sites using specialized bacteria. By combining the microbes with a unique metal known as zero valent iron, hazardous TCE and perchlorate can be transformed into environmentally benign end products. The process was explored at a Superfund location in Goodyear, Arizona and could provide a model for large-scale cleanup of toxic zones nationwide. Shedding new light on solar power Every hour, the sun saturates the Earth with more energy than all humans use in a year. With the world poised to double its energy consumption in just 30 years, harnessing more of this energy is a critical challenge. Solar panels can capture energy only while the sun shines. Biodesign researchers are exploring how to store solar energy in a concentrated form, to be used when and where it is needed. Inspired by the way plants and other photosynthetic organisms collect and use the sun’s radiant energy, researchers are refining technologies that capture sunlight and store it as carbon-free or carbon-neutral fuels.
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Catching more rays ASU and Penn State researchers uncovered new clues about the mysteries of photosynthesis that offer promise in areas from food supply to clean energy. The team demonstrated that certain types of cyanobacteria can acclimate to faint, far-red light that is not normally captured by plants and other species of cyanobacteria. By switching from their normal form of chlorophyll to an alternate form, the cyanobacteria can absorb light with wavelengths above 680 nanometers. This remarkable ability gives these life forms an edge in environments where direct sunlight is limited. Understanding this process could help researchers tweak crops to grow in shaded conditions or create solar panels that work efficiently in varying light conditions. New solutions for tackling the world’s plastic pollution Every year, some 600 billion pounds of plastics are produced, of which only a fraction is recycled. This leads to extensive contamination of air, earth and water. Addressing one of the most profound ecological challenges facing humankind, the Biodesign Center for Sustainable Macromolecular Materials and Manufacturing promises to be one of the top centers of its kind in the world. It is dedicated to engineering sustainable solutions to plastic pollution through the development of green materials and the exploration of environmentally sustainable alternatives, rooted in a molecules-tomanufacturing approach.
Donor impact Glen Swette Estate explores environmental link to ALS The Glen Swette family is committed to achieving impact in the fight against amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. The Biodesign Institute received $495,000 from the Glen Swette Estate for a California-based pilot project to evaluate environmental factors using machine learning. The work will help us better understand the body burden of pollutants that may contribute to ALS. Further, the Swette Young Investigator in ALS provides funding to a Biodesign postdoctoral fellow who will apply pluripotent stem cell technology to ALS to unlock current mysteries surrounding the disease. 12
Increasing security through cyber-bio connections Intriguing connections exist between biological and cyber systems. Biodesign researchers are using evolutionary computation tools to automatically improve software by fixing bugs, enhancing security and reducing energy costs. Computer security has also been shown to have alluring connections with the defense of living systems. Tools for managing and repairing cybersecurity vulnerabilities are being applied to disease threats, particularly cancer. Cybersecurity approaches are also being harnessed to provide secure contact tracing to control disease outbreaks like COVID-19, with an emphasis on providing sufficient coverage through multiple data sources while maintaining users’ privacy and preventing security attacks. In other research, Biodesign is studying the pervasive effects of online censorship and internet freedom around the world.
Exploring DNA for data storage For billions of years, nature has used DNA like a molecular bank vault, a place to store her most coveted secrets — the design blueprints essential to life. Now, researchers at ASU’s Biodesign Institute are exploring the unique informationcarrying capacities of DNA, hoping to produce microscopic forms whose ability to encrypt, store and retrieve information rival those of the siliconbased semiconductor memories found in most computers. If successful, DNA-based storage technologies could one day encode everything from a late quartet of Beethoven to a season of Westworld.
Award-winning achievements Pandemic response team receives top Arizona award The Biodesign Institute was named Innovator of the Year — Academia for its COVID-19 public testing efforts at Arizona’s 17th annual Governor’s Celebration of Innovation. “The world took a dramatic turn, and initially it seemed that all we could do was hang on,” said Steven Zylstra, the event’s host and the president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council. “Fortunately, we in Arizona pulled together, took on the new challenge and found new hope for our future.” Garcia-Pichel honored for work on microbe communities Ferran Garcia-Pichel, director of the Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, received the 2021 D.C. White Award from the American Academy of Microbiology. This prestigious award recognizes distinguished accomplishments in interdisciplinary research and mentoring in microbiology. Garcia-Pichel’s research focuses on the diverse adaptations and impacts of microbes in natural environments that range from desert soils to shallow marine waters. For example, he and his team discovered that the progression of atmospheric oxygen on Earth can be traced through the evolution of genes in scytonemin molecules, commonly called the “sunscreen molecule,” which helps some microbes in filtering harmful UV rays. 14
Lynch awarded for contributions in genetics Michael Lynch, director of the Biodesign Center for Mechanisms of Evolution, received a lifetime achievement award from the 6th International Conference of Quantitative Genetics. Quantitative genetics is the study of complex traits that are influenced by many genes and possibly also by non-genetic factors.
Krajmalnik-Brown named researcher of the year The Arizona Bioindustry Association recognized Rosa Krajmalnik-Brown, director of the Biodesign Center for Health Through Microbiomes as the Arizona Bioscience Researcher of the Year. One of her most prominent research achievements came from a 2017 study, in which Krajmalnik-Brown investigated the impact of a treatment for children with autism that used fecal transplants to normalize their gut bacteria. Studies showed that gastrointestinal symptoms decreased by 80% and autism-related symptoms improved 25%. Two years later, most GI benefits remained and the improvements to autism behaviors were even greater.
Yan wins Feynman Prize Hao Yan, director of the Biodesign Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics, was awarded the 2020 Feynman Prize in Nanotechnology in the experimental category by the Foresight Institute. Yan’s research uses DNA, an essential building block of all life forms, as the architectural underpinning of advanced nanotechnology, with the ultimate goal of building a suite of dynamic nanoscale devices.
LaBaer lauded for leadership Joshua LaBaer, executive director of the Biodesign Institute and director of the Biodesign Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics, was named the Jon W. McGarity Arizona Bioscience Leader of the Year by the Arizona Bioindustry Association. LaBaer brings teams together, inspiring them to make a difference by applying science, drive and innovation to solve real-world problems.
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Let’s go save some lives.” — ASU Biodesign Institute Executive Director Joshua LaBaer’s daily team meeting sign off
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