Olympic Steak and Pizza Pulls Permit for 4th Location

Olympic Steak and Pizza, a family-owned restaurant chain with stores in northeast Shelby County, has filed a building permit application for its fourth location in Arlington.

The $2.4 million permit calls for new construction at 5183 Airline Road, and lists Priester & Associates Inc. as the contractor.

Currently Olympic Steak and Pizza operates locations in Millington, Atoka and Oakland.

– Patrick Lantrip

FedEx Institute Invests In 8 New Technologies

The FedEx Institute of Technology recently awarded development grants for eight new technologies to researchers from across the University of Memphis.

The grants, totaling $160,000, were awarded to the most commercially promising technologies to promote faculty innovations, plus support the protection and commercialization of inventions made by faculty and researchers.

Among the eight grants:

• “Fully Passive Wireless ECG and SpO2 Monitoring System on Smartphone Using Low-Cost Disposable Body-Worn Inkjet-Printed Sensors”: Typical monitors used on patients are heavy and uncomfortable for long-term use. Dr. Bashir Morshed’s technological research will combat these issues by developing a Band-Aid-like sensor worn on the body for physiological signal capture.

• “Fetal Transport System”: This system would help transport infants born at less than 26 weeks to an advanced neonatal intensive care unit in order to receive proper treatment and care for greater survival outcomes. The next step in Dr. Randal Buddington’s research is to determine what nutrients the placenta provides to the fetus in order to mimic those womb conditions within the transport system.

• “Multifocal-Light Sheet Structure Illumination Fluorescence Microscopy: Illumination Module, Method and Software to Obtain 3-D Super-Resolved Images with Improved Optical-Sectioning”: The primary goals of Dr. Chrysanthe Preza’s project are to design and evaluate the performance of the illumination system, the data acquisition software, and the computation method and software for data processing.

After a record year for the U of M that included receiving eight issued U.S. patents, the FedEx Institute’s goal is to support and propel these innovations so that they join the university’s expanding profile of commercialization and patent achievements.

– Don Wade

St. Jude CEO to Be Honored For Leukemia Discoveries

The American Society of Hematology will honor St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital CEO Dr. James Downing later this year with the 2017 E. Donnall Thomas Lecture and Prize for his discoveries related to the hematopathology and molecular biology of childhood leukemia, the most common pediatric cancer.

The lectureship and prize is named after the late Nobel Prize laureate and past president of the society. The lecture and prize recognizes pioneering research achievements in hematology that represent a paradigm shift or significant discovery in the field.

Downing will present his lecture, “The Molecular Pathology of Pediatric Acute Leukemia,” on Dec. 11 at the 59th ASH annual meeting and exposition in Atlanta. His lecture will focus on progress that has been made over the last 15 years in advancing the understanding of pediatric acute leukemia and how this information is increasing cure rates.

Downing pioneered the concept that the tools of advanced genomics could be used to better predict disease prognosis. He also embarked on the first comprehensive genome-sequencing analysis of childhood cancers, the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, which has sequenced the normal and cancer genomes of more than 700 pediatric cancer patients with some of the least-understood and most-aggressive tumors and led to discoveries in a number of pediatric cancers, as well as computational algorithms that are now used worldwide for genomic analysis.

– Andy Meek

Big River Crossing Wins International Design Honor

Big River Crossing has won the top honor among projects receiving 2017 Excellence in Design Awards from the Waterfront Center, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit that helps communities worldwide make wise long-term uses of waterfront resources.

The Design in Excellence award honors developments that have catalyzed public enjoyment of and access to a waterfront while also making civic, environmental and educational contributions to the surrounding area and incorporating natural and historical features. In addition, the judges – an interdisciplinary jury of professional planners, designers, city officials, and community, business and development representatives – consider each nominated project’s degree of difficulty.

Big River Crossing is a bike and pedestrian crossing built along the Harahan Bridge more than 100 feet above the Mississippi River. More than 200,000 visitors have made the mile-long trip since the crossing opened last October.

The bridge, which is illuminated by 80,000 LED lights, has become a new icon on the riverfront, with the lights changing colors to celebrate events, sports teams and community initiatives.

Big River Crossing is also part of the $43 million Main to Main Multi-Modal Connector Project between Memphis and West Memphis. The bridge’s impact includes the current development of a 1,700-acre park adjacent to the bridge on the Arkansas side and ongoing plans for a national biking and hiking trail along the entire Mississippi River’s levee system.

Virginia McLean, president of Friends for Our Riverfront, a group devoted to keeping the riverfront accessible to the public, said the crossing’s “wide-ranging cultural and economic benefits and stunning design” inspired the group to nominate the project.

“Winning the top honor is an incredible distinction for Memphis and its storied waterfront,” McLean said in a statement. “We’re truly in esteemed company.”

The Waterfront Center’s 30th annual Excellence on the Waterfront Awards Ceremony and Reception will be held Friday, Sept. 8, in Washington, D.C. U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, who played a prominent role in development and logistical planning for the bridge, is scheduled to receive the award on behalf of Big River Crossing.

“Big River Crossing was an incredibly complex undertaking, and the effort is consistently being validated both by the public’s continued use of the bridge and through receiving global recognition from organizations like the Waterfront Center,” Cohen said in a statement. “The bridge is an incredible source of civic pride and engagement, as well as an example of architectural excellence. I will be honored to accept the award on behalf of all who have contributed to its initial success.”

– Daily News staff

MAAR Elects Five New 2018 Board Members

The Memphis Area Association of Realtors elected five new members for its 2018-19 board of directors at its annual meeting Thursday, Aug. 31.

The new members include Amanda Lott and Loura Edmondson of Crye-Leike Inc. Realtors; Eric Fuhrman of Crye-Leike Commercial; Keith Gilliam of Weichert Realtors; and Grace Uhlhorn of Keller Williams Realty.

The group will join the board’s current members: Lauren Harkins Wiuff, Marx-Bensdorf Realtors; Bill Stewart, RE/MAX Real Estate Experts; Bryan Evans, NAI Saig Co.; Jeff Burress, Crye-Leike; Cheryl Muhammad, Assured Real Estate Services; Kathryn Garland, Garland Co. Real Estate; and Nancy Cunningham, Coldwell Banker Collins-Maury.

“We have a dedicated group elected to serve on MAAR’s 2018-2019 board of directors,” incoming president Lauren Harkins Wiuff said in a release.

– Patrick Lantrip

All of Tenn. in Compliance With Air Quality Standard

Tennessee environment officials say the whole state now complies with federal air quality health standards for particle pollution.

The last remaining areas in Tennessee to achieve “attainment” designation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency were finalized this week. Those areas are all of Anderson, Knox, Blount and Loudon counties and part of Roane County.

The state Department of Environment and Conservation said in a news release that local, state and federal governments have been monitoring and working to reduce air pollution for nearly five decades.

The EPA says particle pollution contains microscopic solids or liquid droplets that are so small they can be inhaled and cause serious health problems.

– The Associated Press