A recent report found that the Arizona community is benefiting from ASU as patents and researchers spur growth and spin-off businesses in the state.
Colleen Brophy, who created a protein that relaxes certain muscles in a technique that treats asthma and can even be used to prevent stroke in some cases, is just one of many University scientists who have branched off and created companies and products to benefit Arizona.
"Down the road when it is used in clinics, it will provide jobs and know how for Arizona," she said.
After patenting the protein through ASU, Brophy left her position at the Biodesign Institute to start Arizona Engineered Therapeutics three years ago.
She is still a research professor of bioengineering at ASU.
A March 22 report by ASU's Morrison Institute for Public Policy found that ASU research has benefited Arizona's knowledge economy through spin-off companies and product development, additional funding and new skills.
The report assessed the progress of Proposition 301 funding to ASU research from fiscal years 2002 to 2004.
In 2000, voters approved Proposition 301, a 20-year, 0.6 percent sales tax increase that provided $46.1 million to ASU, which the administration invested in the biotechnology and biomedical research fields.
According to the report, ASU received $47.7 million in outside funding and developed 46 new U.S. patents, 10 new spin-off companies and 13 new products. New classes in science and technology were added to the curriculum and students gained research experience and training.
The important jobs in the next 30 years will be in biomedicine and biotechnology, medical care and pharmaceuticals in Arizona, said Michael Mobley, assistant director of the Biodesign Institute.
Jobs in these fields tend to be anchored where they are established, around hospitals and universities, and do not get outsourced overseas, he said.
"Research in infectious disease, early diagnostics and vaccines can have a significant impact on people's health," he said. "New discoveries lead to new companies where people need to be employed. It attracts people from other parts of the country."
The Arizona Board of Regents approved the use of the money and allocates annually how much of the funding from Proposition 301 goes to each Arizona university.
"It's a fantastic program and it's important that money is being made available to universities," said Fred Boice, secretary of the board of regents. "[The results of the report] exemplify what higher education can do with extra money."
Reach the reporter at courtney.bonnell@asu.edu.
