Sketches of the Future: What’s on the Horizon for the Phoenix Bioscience Core
The Phoenix Bioscience Core (PBC) is in transition.
Despite the disruption in federal funding, the core, which covers more than 30 acres in Downtown Phoenix, continues to make key investments that position itself as the future heart of healthcare and science innovation in Downtown and beyond.
This isn’t idle talk. The most recent performance data on Arizona’s Bioscience Roadmap supports that progress with key statistics and trends in the state's bioscience investments. These investments have demonstrated remarkable growth in areas including wages and research funding, which have outpaced national and private sector figures.
The future of health care and translational research is alive and happening Downtown.
The success of the local innovation district relies on robust collaborations among the three public universities—Arizona State University (ASU), University of Arizona and Northern Arizona University (NAU)—along with various hospital systems and a combination of public and private research initiatives.
To celebrate Arizona Bioscience Week (Oct. 13-17), Phoenix Community Alliance (PCA) highlights a handful of Member-affiliated programs that showcase foundational success and future growth.
Case Studies of Medical Innovation:
A key characteristic of the PBC is positioning up-and-coming biotech startups for future success. The formation of the XLR8 PBC Mentorship Program is one example of the supportive infrastructure that connects startups with businesses to scale upward.
Since the beginning of 2025, the XLR8 program has supported emerging health and life science companies with personalized mentorship and access to its four additional experts. The program matched new companies with experienced mentors who guided the health consortia in integrating more thoroughly into the Phoenix bioscience and health tech ecosystem, leading to stronger partnerships and better outcomes.
Meanwhile, a preview of a future innovation is a blood test that could potentially detect cancer, helping to prevent some cancer deaths through early detection. Binary Genomics' innovation comes from a new approach that samples a tumor’s genetic makeup to predict how it might develop in advance of a scan.
Funded by NIH Grants, Binary Genomics operates from 850 PBC to develop a system that can deliver thousands of tests with quick results.
A Framework for Opportunities:
Binary Genetics' biotech solutions demonstrate that innovation doesn’t occur in isolation.
Amid funding uncertainties, how does the core sustain the momentum of recent years? Despite those challenges, the Flinn Foundation report highlights opportunities.
September began with a live event off the core to launch the latest version of Arizona's Bioscience Roadmap, which was first commissioned by the Flinn Foundation in 2002 and last updated in 2014. The report serves as a strategic plan to identify strengths and navigate potential future challenges.
This particular roadmap provides a framework for the next five years, focusing on strategies to retain Arizona’s talent pool and developing incentivized infrastructure to attract global talent to the state.
Where large corporations once fostered innovation, the decentralized nature of biotech startups now demands a strong entrepreneurial presence within the community to promote growth. This is how the strategic partnerships of related industries, such as banking, can prove highly effective.
For example, PCA Members Integro Bank and Arizona Technology Council announced a strategic partnership in July to allow council member companies access to Integro's exclusive financial resources to streamline further expansion.
Make Way for ASU Health:
Believe it or not, Phoenix was once the only major city without a medical school. ASU is moving closer to building one, in addition to University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix's presence on the core. The new medical school will occupy a large part of the core just south of Wexford Science + Technology’s 850 PBC facility, another example of collaboration within the Downtown core.
Across the street, they are finishing construction on a 2,200-square-foot building that will house a Siemens Prisma MAGNETOM, the same MRI machine used in hospitals. The new facility supports ASU’s Clinical Research Services, which operates within 850 PBC, a dedicated resource for many researchers (including those studying human behavior, autism, decision making, and more). The machine will be available to universities and industry partners because it is part of ASU’s Core Facilities network.
As ASU Health develops, expect this modest facility to play a key role in advancing the PBC’s master plan and our state's healthcare infrastructure.
The Artist + Researcher Program Takes the (National) Stage:
Since 2021, artists have been paired with researchers to turn innovative research findings into dynamic art installations, aiming to find connections that might not otherwise exist.
Throughout the fall, the Artist + Researcher Program (ARx) allows artists to shadow researchers to learn about their work, which they turn into completed art by the following summer. Matchmaking helps artists appreciate the beauty of their partner’s research, inspiring them to create even more striking art.
Some past highlights of these installations include artwork that displays how mathematics plays a role in discovering cancer cells, and how subtle facial expressions reveal someone’s intent.
Not only was this signature Downtown staple envisioned within the PBC, where work was also created and showcased, but it is also now a program franchised to three cities across the country, including Charlotte, Philadelphia, and Sacramento.
The results of these latest collaborations will be unveiled to the public on Friday, November 7, inside Arizona Science Center’s Dorrence Dome.
Artist and researcher entries for ARx5 are open through the end of October.
To put the excitement of the nonstop activity within the core into perspective, this only covers the beginning of the fall season.
The PBC publishes a weekly digital newsletter that captures the countless inspiring stories of collaborations and innovations that often converge in the core, whether researchers are mentoring future scientists or creating prototypes for affordable motorized wheelchairs.
The pace of activity has only increased in recent years, with the core expanding to six major signature events annually, including an annual State of the PBC and weekly Venture Café events, further strengthening efforts.
Whatever innovations emerge from Arizona, they will likely start in the PBC.