The newly announced Center for Advanced Molecular and Immunological Therapies, a University of Arizona health sciences research center, will help anchor a growing biotech cluster in downtown Phoenix, part of a larger shift toward building life sciences capacity in the southwestern city.

Focused on studying the immunology of cancers, infectious diseases and autoimmune conditions, and the development of cell-and-gene therapy, the forthcoming center will help anchor the 6M SF, 30-acre Phoenix Bioscience Campus.

Phoenix has recently invested in expanding upon its long history with life sciences, which kicked off in earnest in 2002 with the founding of the Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen. Recent and ongoing projects include Wexford Science & Technology’s downtown innovation lab and a significant planned expansion by the Mayo Clinic of its existing North Phoenix campus.

Wexford Director of Development and Phoenix Market Lead Kyle Jardine told Bisnow he predicts 500K SF of life sciences development, if not twice that, will sprout in the region in the next few years, with 2M to 3M SF more on the Phoenix Biomedical Campus in the next decade.