the Biodesign Institute®
Dear friends,
I have the privilege of working with the most brilliant minds and innovative thinkers of our times — scientists, teachers and engineers collectively pushing the boundaries of science across disciplines to address our world’s greatest challenges. For a quarter of a century, the Biodesign Institute® at Arizona State University has been at the forefront of transformative research, tackling some of the most pressing and persistent problems facing human health, environmental sustainability and global security. Our collaborative efforts solve real-world problems while generating new scientific knowledge and innovations. Every breakthrough we achieve begins with a bold idea — an idea that, with the right support, can change lives around the world.
Science is more than exploring complex questions; it is about discovering solutions that make a tangible impact. Each of the scientists at the Biodesign Institute – from the most celebrated faculty to emerging student researchers – are dedicated to pushing the boundaries of knowledge so that we may collectively build a better, healthier, safer future for all.
Our institute has an unwavering commitment to discovery. We pioneer early detection of cancer and develop targeted medicines to treat it. We investigate chemicals in our environment to learn how they impact human health. We blend biology and computer science to understand cyber attacks and make the internet safer for users. We let nature inspire and guide our scientific studies that drive real results for our global community.
Your support for Changing Futures® will accelerate these critical discoveries, ensuring that we continue to turn bold visions into real-world solutions. Together, we have the power to fuel the next generation of innovation, advance technology for good and build the future of health and sustainability for communities across the globe.
Thank you for joining us in shaping the future.
Joshua LaBaer, MD, PhD Executive Director, Biodesign Institute
Every innovation at the Biodesign Institute begins with a pioneering idea. Your support for Changing Futures will help turn those ideas into game-changing solutions.
Biodesign is bold
Your support helps us move faster, take risks and translate ideas into breakthroughs that improve lives.
We believe in the power of bringing scientists together to solve problems.
At the Biodesign Institute, we turn scientific discovery into real-world solutions for human and planetary health –and train the next generation of scientists to carry that work forward.
We focus on the challenges that matter most: diseases that affect people, the environments we call home, and how we can keep our world safe. Our interdisciplinary scientific teams work to understand problems from the tiniest molecule to the planet as a whole, and every scale in between. With these fearlessly innovative researchers, the Biodesign Institute sets a global standard for transformative research and inspires institutions worldwide to follow our lead.
Students are integral to our success
At the Biodesign Institute, students aren’t observers on the sidelines – they actively participate in scientific discovery. The institute employs hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students who work alongside worldrenowned scientists as part of the team. Students run experiments, analyze datasets, contribute to published papers and help develop technologies that move to clinical and commercial uses. This new generation of scientists has hands-on experience tackling real-world challenges and blending knowledge from multiple disciplines to create solutions.
The Biodesign Institute creates the scientists who will lead our futures.
Changing Futures will support the Biodesign Institute’s research into nearly 20 different types of cancer — literally changing the future for patients and their families.
Working to cure cancer
We lose more than 7 million people worldwide each year to cancer. The Biodesign Institute takes a comprehensive approach to tackle this complex disease. Whether studying prevention, diagnosis or treatment, our teams unite clinicians and researchers with diverse expertise to develop solutions.
• Prevention: Our teams are collaborating with Mayo Clinic in Arizona to eradicate cancer by developing vaccines. These vaccines leverage our immune system’s ability to recognize proteins in our bodies that cancers create, helping to stop cancer as soon as it starts.
• Diagnosis: Our researchers have developed simple, inexpensive technologies that can identify cancer (and other diseases) before any symptoms appear. With only a drop of blood, we can learn whether a person has cancer. This will help link people to treatment faster, improving their health outcomes.
• Treatment: Cancer isn’t just one disease. What we used to call “breast cancer,” for example, is now more than six different diseases. Each one behaves differently and needs a different kind of treatment. At the Biodesign Institute, our scientists are working on smarter ways to treat cancer, whether that’s using our immune system, helpful bacteria, special viruses or even tiny DNA tools that can find and attack tumors. This work helps patients get treatments that work for their specific cancer, reducing side effects and preventing unnecessary expense.
These are just our examples of how our researchers are working towards a cure for cancer.
Decoding the brain
The human brain is incredibly powerful – but that complexity also makes it one of the hardest parts of the body to understand. At the Biodesign Institute, researchers are working to change that by developing new ways to treat neurological disorders that affect millions of people each year.
• Alzheimer’s disease affects more than 44 million people worldwide, including 6 million Americans. It places an enormous burden on families, caregivers and health systems, while also causing profound personal memory loss. Our researchers work in partnership with Banner Health to learn more about this disease, understand risk factors, develop effective treatments and prevent its onset.
• Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s. The population with this disease is growing; researchers anticipate that over 14 million people worldwide will have Parkinson’s by 2040. While it is best known for its movement symptoms like tremors and stiffness, it causes other serious health challenges. Our researchers are investigating stem cell therapies, gene therapies and immunotherapies to slow or stop the progression of this disease.
• Microbiomes are the trillions of bacteria and microbes in our bodies that play a major role in our health. The Biodesign Institute has the leading center for microbiome research and the brain. These scientists have already designed microbial treatments that have succeeded in treating symptoms of autism. These strategies, which target gut-brain interactions, may also help manage neurodegenerative diseases.
Biodesign Institute scientists are conducting research into prevention and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, as well as exploring the impact of the microbiome on the brain.
Biodesign Institute’s innovations start with a desire to understand the ingenious ways that nature solves problems.
Investing in the planet’s well-being
The health of our planet is inseparable from the health of its people. The Biodesign Institute is committed to pioneering sustainable solutions that restore balance to our world. With bold innovation, ASU is shaping a future where science serves both people and the planet.
• Better materials and practices: Our daily interactions with our planet present us with many challenges – how to produce energy, keep water systems safe, manage pollutants and so many more. Biodesign Institute experts meet these challenges head-on, finding new, sustainable ways to generate energy, developing new and reusable plastics, and studying how the environment shapes human health. Our teams help remove harmful contaminants from water and soil so that they don’t impact what we drink and eat. Our goal is to develop practical pathways toward a healthier future for ourselves and our planet.
• Protecting people from pollutants: Human health is at risk because of environmental contamination from all kinds of sources, including chemicals in consumer products, manufacturing waste and microplastics. Our researchers are committed to protecting human health and critical ecosystems by detecting and eliminating harmful pollutants. Our experts help industries and governments understand environmental impacts. Together, we can design and implement solutions that combine engineering, public health and environmental policy to remove toxic pollutants and improve health for people and our planet.
• Solving the plastic problem: Plastics accumulate on our planet at an alarming rate - over 300 million tons per year. While they have enhanced our quality of life, this waste buildup has significant consequences for the Earth. Biodesign Institute experts are working to create a circular plastic economy by designing renewable plastics.
• Nature’s secret to clean energy: While we may think of plants as food, they play an important role on our planet through photosynthesis – creating the oxygen that helps life on Earth thrive. Proteins in plants use sunlight to create oxygen. Our researchers are exploring the structure and functions of these proteins to learn more about this magical process – and find inspiration for how we can develop clean energy technologies to meet future demand.
Every breakthrough begins with a bold that, with the right change lives around Together, we have the next generation
breakthrough we achieve bold idea — an idea right support, can around the world.
have the power to fuel generation of innovation.
—Joshua LaBaer, MD, PhD Executive Director, Biodesign Institute
Preventing threats to societal health and security
We live in a fast-paced world where we need to anticipate potential challenges. The Biodesign Institute is leading the way in understanding complex biological and cyber systems.
• Blending biology and cybersecurity: Our experts are exploring connections between biology and computer science and using insights from biology to solve complex problems like privacy, cybersecurity and software engineering. This work helps us invent security solutions that automatically protect software and reduce the energy it uses to operate. This work helps mitigate the 2,200 cyberattacks that happen every day.
• Sensing environmental threats: Our environment presents us with many threats to our health, whether crafted by nature or humans. Biodesign Institute experts are creating new sensor technologies to monitor those threats — whether pollutants, microbes, viruses or even explosives and other man-made dangers.
• Nimble facilities and experts: With the onset of COVID-19, Biodesign Institute leadership recognized that our labs could adapt to support Arizonans. Our team developed the first saliva-based COVID-19 test that was highly accurate. We processed over 1.5 million tests at the Biodesign Institute over the course of the pandemic.
Biodesign Institute uses insights from biology to invent cybersecurity solutions and create sensor technologies to protect our health from environmental threats.
ASU’s CXFEL will usher in a new era of scientific discovery and innovation.
Lighting the invisible
The fundamental processes that determine our well-being happen at a scale too small to imagine. How do drugs bind to cells to treat cancer? How does photosynthesis create energy? How do atoms interact in computer chips?
Scientists have only been able to document these dynamic, small-scale processes since 2009, when the first x-ray free electron laser was made. An XFEL allows researchers to see how atoms and molecules move in real time and in astonishing detail. But, there are only five XFEL laboratories in the world, each requiring expensive facilities in tunnels that are miles long.
At the Biodesign Institute, we are building the first Compact XFEL, a new scientific instrument that will be cost-effective and accessible. It will help us:
• Identify diseases using phase contrast imaging — which helps reveal fine structures in soft tissues like the brain, lungs and blood vessels. The CXFEL will help us see what other medical imaging tests miss.
• See protein dynamics that will help us understand how proteins move and enable us to develop better drugs to bind to those proteins and treat disease. Researchers will be able to make new and targeted therapies to help patients.
• Understand molecules that are the building blocks of life around us. Our researchers will advance fundamental science — answering questions like how we can generate, transfer and store energy to meet the world’s growing demand.
• Develop quantum materials for the next generation of computers. Our team is working to develop computers that are faster, AI-enabled and safer — with technology that can defend digital networks from cybersecurity threats.
• Examine archaeological and artistic treasures to learn more about our shared cultural heritage without damaging items or artworks.
Support discoveries that change futures
Changing Futures ensures the Biodesign Institute can continue taking the big swings that lead to life-changing discoveries while producing the data needed to secure additional funding from traditional sources.
“That’s what science and research are about,” says Dr. LaBaer. “Trying things, without knowing if they will work or not, so we can find new ideas that do work.”
The discoveries made at the Biodesign Institute are not just ideas — they are solutions that will define our future. With your support, we can expand our reach, accelerate breakthroughs and transform bold visions into reality.
Join us in Changing Futures and be part of the movement that advances health, sustainability and scientific discovery for all.
We are making the discoveries that will become tomorrow’s solutions. Join us.
Your generosity fuels scientific breakthroughs that create a better future.
Change futures by supporting
Build the future of health
Erasing disease, increasing vitality and longevity, and bolstering immunity against illness: Biodesign Institute researchers are redefining what’s possible in medicine and beyond.
• Cancer research: Our scientists are pioneering early detection methods, personalized therapies and precise, targeted treatments. Join us in working toward a future where more patients survive and thrive.
• Immunology: Our teams who study the immune system are creating new treatments and vaccines for infectious diseases, cancer, Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and allergies. Developing these diagnostic technologies has the potential to transform medicine.
• Disease detection: Our researchers are inventing ultra-precise sensors to analyze human health. This work will help us recognize disease earlier and help people manage medical conditions.
Inspire tomorrow’s game changers
Biodesign Institute’s hands-on research opportunities train the next generation of scientists, providing students with the skills and experience to solve tomorrow’s challenges.
• The Biodesign Student Scholarships and Training Program supports student research and travel to professional conferences, where they can make connections and advance their careers.
• The Undergraduate Summer Research Scholars Program is an opportunity for young scientists who want to participate in research during the summer months.
• The Banner-ASU Neuroscience Scholars Program employs students interested in gaining research and clinical experience in neuroscience. These undergraduate and graduate students have the opportunity to contribute to research projects and capstones together with experts at ASU or Banner Health.
• The ASU-Dublin City University Fellowship is a transatlantic partnership that allows students to spend a year in Ireland working with faculty focused on applied research. ASU students help translate discoveries in health care technology and sustainable manufacturing into industry, where they can benefit society.
the Biodesign Institute
Transform global education
Investing in the future of innovative science: The Biodesign Institute is committed to fostering ideas, maximizing collaboration and attracting and retaining talented innovators. By cultivating a culture of bold exploration, we are pioneering revolutionary discoveries that set new benchmarks for scientific progress, inspiring the world to follow in our footsteps.
• Breakthrough fellowships: Fellowships help the Biodesign Institute attract and support top scientists. These investments attract visionary pioneers who are pushing the boundaries of scientific breakthroughs and redefining what is possible. Expanding fellowships enables novel research opportunities and global collaborations that ensure scientists have the mentorship, funding and training necessary to lead in their fields.
• Innovation seed funding: The Biodesign Institute wants the next generation of scientists to have the resources, professional development and handson experience they need to drive groundbreaking discoveries. By investing in the brightest minds, we are empowering future leaders in scientific discovery, ensuring that innovation thrives for generations to come.
Advance technology for good
The Biodesign Institute is unlocking new frontiers in scientific research and innovation. Whether a first-of-its-kind tool like the CXFEL, a wireless personal sensor to help manage a medical condition or deploying microbes to clean up pollution, our researchers are leveraging their knowledge to improve our world.
• Sustainable materials research: Our researchers are working to solve the plastic problem - 600 billion pounds of plastic are produced per year, yet only 10% is recycled. Your support can help us create biodegradable plastics that reverse the problem of plastic waste.
• Biomaterials innovation research: Our experts are working to revolutionize therapeutics, implants, surgical tools and biosensors to make it easier for people to manage chronic illnesses and to have better outcomes from surgical procedures. The Biodesign Institute is engineering the future of health technology.
Change futures by supporting
Reshape our relationship with the planet
One in four deaths worldwide are linked to the environment, according to the World Health Organization. The Biodesign Institute is taking on this challenge by finding new, sustainable ways to generate energy, food and renewable plastics; studying how environmental factors affect human health; and removing harmful plastics, chemicals and other pollutants from our water and soil. Our goal is to develop practical pathways toward a healthier future for ourselves and our planet.
• Partnering with microbes: Microbes are found everywhere on Earth. These amazing organisms live and interact with their environment, and possess unique capabilities to clean up pollution, create renewable energy and develop resources. Our engineers, biologists and chemists are studying microbes and deploying them to protect our health and ecosystems. Working from local to global, our experts are implementing solutions through engineering, industry engagement and public policy.
• Monitoring our planet: Biodesign Institute experts are creating a Human Health Observatory to provide near-real-time global insights about pollution, migration, infectious disease and natural resource use that can help promote human health and sustainability. Making potential health threats visible helps us prevent diseases and outbreaks before they become pandemics, whether they’re caused by biological or chemical agents. Our team helps monitor and optimize public health efforts worldwide.
Empower community resilience
The Biodesign Institute brings together top scientists from around the world to address the biggest challenges of our present and future. Our teams advance human health, make communities safer and improve our relationship with the environment. Our work leads to discoveries and inventions that make our communities more resilient.
• Innovation catalyst: Our researchers created a therapy against the Ebola virus, discovered a way to detect breast cancer earlier, shared data with policymakers about potentially harmful chemicals in personal care products and developed the first saliva-based COVID-19 test in the nation.
the Biodesign Institute
About us
The Biodesign Institute® at Arizona State University serves Arizona and the world by developing and implementing high-value, scalable solutions for the betterment and security of human and planetary health. Our institute is made up of 16 visionary research centers that coalesce into a supercharged research and innovation engine geared to address current and emerging global issues while simultaneously building the science and technology workforce of the future. Inspired by nature and rooted in an ability to nimbly adjust to new world problems, our work is more than novel – it’s necessary.
ASU Charter
ASU is a comprehensive public research university, measured not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed; advancing research and discovery of public value; and assuming fundamental responsibility for the economic, social, cultural and overall health of the communities it serves.