On the same day, word arrived that two highly regarded scientists agreed to move their operations to Arizona, according to the Arizona Republic. Arizona State University nabbed an all-star microbiologist while TGen hired a leading researcher of the National Cancer Institute.

ASU reached an agreement with Roy Curtiss, a renowned genetic biotechnologist who has spent the last two decades at Washington University in St. Louis. He has an extensive track record in developing genetically engineered vaccines against agricultural and human pathogens. Curtiss holds three patents for plant-edible vaccines, a specialty of Charles Arntzen, who will become a colleague of Curtiss' at the ASU's Arizona Biodesign Institute.

The university heavily recruited Curtiss, and had even received approval from the Arizona Board of Regents in March to build a $3.8 million lab within the Institute's new facility as an incentive to lure him. "If they didn't have the lab facilities, I wouldn't have considered moving," Curtiss told the Republic earlier.

Curtiss and his staff of 30 will start in the fall, including his wife, Josephine Clark-Curtiss, an accomplished tuberculosis researcher. The Republic reported that Curtiss has received $5.5 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health over the last five years. That total would rank him in the top 15 at ASU.

The Translational Genomics Research Institute hired Ellen Feigal, a top researcher at the National Cancer Institute. She will assume the post of deputy scientific director and vice president of clinical sciences, and will start on Monday.

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For more information:

"Big-ticket researcher joining ASU," Arizona Republic, 04/15/04

"ASU plans lab to lure superstar scientist," Arizona Republic, 03/30/2004

Arizona Biodesign Institute

Translational Genomics Research Institute