The Novavax vaccine differs from other Covid-19 vaccines because it already has the spike protein of the virus but it cannot cause the actual disease. ”I would love to see that vaccine here, it’s much more easily stored and transported, it would make it a lot easier to get that type of vaccine out to the rest of the world as well,” said Deepta Bhattacharya, an immunobiologist at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

While Caucasions are 20 times more likely to develop melanoma than people of color, the reality is when it's diagnosed in people of color it’s typically in the deadliest of stages. "The rate for melanoma is now 30 per 100,000 in Arizona compared to 22.7 per 100,000 in the United States as a whole," said Robin Harris, a professor at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and co-director of the Skin Cancer Institute at the UArizona Cancer Center.

A $15.3 million grant will fund research to study Hispanic children’s susceptibility to asthma in Tucson, compared to Nogales, Sonora, where it is much less prevalent. “We have a very significant asthma epidemic in the United States, and many children who develop asthma can be burdened for a lifetime. My goal is to prevent asthma in children by building their immune system,” said Dr. Fernando Martinez, director of the UArizona Health Sciences Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center.

David Harris, professor of immunobiology and executive director of the UArizona Biorepository in the College of Medicine – Tucson, believes that stem cell clinics marketing unproven treatments could hurt researchers who are doing things the correct way. "If it appears that medical professionals are doing this just to make money, it will spur a lot of distrust, not only in the doctors, but also in in this field," said Harris.

New data presented at the annual SLEEP meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies suggests that individuals who used or abused opioids were significantly more likely to receive sedating medications than those who did not use opioids. “At least 9% of the individuals using an opioid had also used a sedating medication despite the increased risk for overdose death with combined use," said Andrew S. Tubbs, an MD/PhD student at the College of Medicine – Tucson.

The center focuses on research, outreach and education to fulfill its mission of protecting people against a deadly fungal disease native to the Southwest.

Dr. John Galgiani, a professor of medicine in infectious diseases at the College of Medicine – Tucson and director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence, says this year Valley Fever is heading for the highest case count in the last ten years.

In an article for ABC News, Dr. Onyema Okolo, an oncologist and hematologist from the University of Arizona Cancer Center, discusses how and why the Covid-19 vaccines are working against variants. Dr. Okolo is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.

David Harris, professor of immunobiology and executive director of the UArizona Biorepository in the College of Medicine –Tucson, said there is some encouraging data to support the ability of mesenchymal stem cells to treat various conditions such as an open wound. Harris also said there's no conclusive scientific proof yet that they work and that studies are still ongoing.

Briana Choi, a PhD student at the College of Pharmacy, discusses the cost evaluation of osimertinib use as an adjunctive maintenance therapy in surgically resected EGFR-positive non-small cell lung cancer. The findings were presented at the virtual 2021 ASCO Annual Meeting.