211th Edition – July 12, 2016

Here at Commerce, we’re always talking with representatives from Maryland businesses. Recently, we spoke with several business owners and executives about success, specifically asking how their companies are finding success in Maryland.

Robust influx of millennials in the workforce is a significant factor in this year’s ranking of the top 50 “Tech Talent” markets in the U.S. and Canada

San Francisco remains the nation’s leading tech market, but the competition for talent is getting tougher as more highly skilled tech workers—especially millennials—are flocking to cities where the cost of living is lower and tech jobs are plentiful, according to CBRE Group, Inc.’s annual Research report, “Scoring Tech Talent,” which ranks 50 U.S. and Canadian markets according to their ability to attract and grow tech talent.

Wexford Science & Technology LLC will soon again be under new ownership.

Chicago-based Ventas Inc. has agreed to pay $1.5 billion in cash to acquire substantially all of the assets of the Baltimore real estate investment and development firm from affiliates of Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII L.P. Ventas will also assume $33 million of liabilities. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

More women are studying science, technology, engineering and math at UC San Diego than at any other major college in the country, a recent analysis of enrollment has found.

The study conducted by BestColleges.com found that one in three women at UC San Diego graduate with a STEM degree, about three times the national average.

With the big cancer confab ASCO 2016 fading into memory, R&D teams everywhere are getting back to work on their cancer programs – and across the industry many of them will be doing the same work, on the same targets, supporting the exploding supernova known as immuno-oncology.

Businesses that set out to change the world might want to start in D.C.

That’s according to a new study from D.C.-based S&R Foundation’s Halcyon Incubator, which calls Washington the best U.S. city for “social entrepreneurs” — startup founders that attempt to solve social problems with scalable businesses, like the Georgetown grads tackling food-waste with their juicing company, Misfit Juicery.

When: July 28th 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.

Where: BRI 9410 Key West Ave Rockville, MD 20850

Join BioBuzz and July Co-Sponsors BRI and Azzur IT, as we visit BRI’s offices and labs at their new location in Rockville on July 28th. Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), a 501 c 3 non-profit company, which focuses on the development of diagnostic and vaccine solutions to Schistosomiasis, a parasitic disease that impacts sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil and rural Asia where 800 million people live and over 200 million people are infected.

After months of work under the radar, GlaxoSmithKline committed to entering the Zika R&D field, announcing on Thursday that it’s pairing with the National Institutes of Health in a project based at its new vaccine research hub in Rockville, MD.

Following in their Senate colleagues’ footsteps, a House subcommittee signed off on a budget increase for the National Institutes of Health Thursday. The increases for fiscal-year 2017 confirm lawmakers’ public pledges to establish a pattern of improved budgets for the agency, which before last year saw more than a decade of flat funding.

Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels’ contract has been extended through 2024 by the school’s Board of Trustees.

This is a five-year extension for Daniels, who was given an initial five-year extension in 2014. Daniels, 57, joined Johns Hopkins in 2009, becoming the school’s 14th president.

After years of puzzling over how its grant-review process might be shortchanging younger scientists, the National Institutes of Health appears to have figured out a more fundamental truth: There just aren’t enough of them applying.

D.C. venture capital powerhouse Updata Partners will announce Thursday that it has raised $280.6 million in new funding.

Updata, whose portfolio includes Mashable and VideoBlocks, surpassed its goal for the Updata Partners V LP fund by about $5 million. As of April, it had reported raising $160 million to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The White House’s Cancer Moonshot 2020 is about much more than clinical research. Data, IT and patient engagement are major components.

Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday is hosting the first National Cancer Moonshot Summit on the campus of Howard University in Washington, and lots of news is being made.

Vice President Joe Biden, who has personal experience of the heartbreak that cancer causes, has taken on humanity’s mortal enemy and aims to end the disease “as we know it.”

The Biotechnology Innovation Organization today released the following statement in response to Democratic Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton’s Initiative on Technology & Innovation:

“As one of America’s most innovative industries, biotechnology is tackling head-on the unrelenting scientific challenges inherent in the discovery, development and delivery of new, high-value healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental products.

Could lab-grown bones replace tissue grafts and multiple painful surgeries? Nina Tandon is the CEO and co-founder of EpiBone, a Brooklyn-based biotech company that was chosen as one of the World Economic Forum’s 2015 Technology Pioneers. Tandon is also a World Economic Forum Young Scientist who will be speaking at the Annual Meeting of the New Champions in Tianjin, China, from June 26 to 28.

Canada’s publicly funded health care system is a source of pride and a defining value for Canadians. They rely on it for timely access to universal, high-quality and innovative treatments and services that are based on need, not on the ability to pay. To support Canadians battling cancer, the Government of Canada is investing $15 million over five years in the Centre for Commercialization of Cancer Immunotherapy (C3i). Immunotherapy is an emerging area of medicine that uses the power of the immune system to combat cancer. When brought to market, C3i’s form of cancer treatment stands to revolutionize cancer care by providing access to non-toxic, highly efficient cures that do not rely on chemotherapy.

The expanding role of healthcare providers is not limited to societies with “developed” healthcare systems. Diseases, such as AIDS and malaria, prevalent in the third world and emerging countries are now considered chronic or curable with the proper treatment, leaving those afflicted with greater chance of recovery. However, as the cost the typical person pays for healthcare over his or her lifetime rises, the question becomes: How will these emerging societies, especially those in less-developed countries, sustain a rising bill?

This is the fifth consecutive year for the USA Creative Business Cup. This year for the first time there will be a f2f finals for competing teams in Washington, DC as part of the activities of Creative World – DC (creativeworld.group) and the National Creativity Network Conference within it. The USA national winner goes on to compete for the 2016 global Creative Business Cup in Copenhagen, Denmark (November 20-21) as a featured event of the 2016 Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW). It is anticipated that over 60 nations will send teams to compete in this year’s event.