318th Edition – August 28, 2018

One of Maryland’s best-funded biotech companies took a milestone first step Monday, announcing it has begun clinical trials of a medication it is developing. Gaithersburg-based Viela Bio was spun out of MedImmune, a subsidiary of AstraZeneca, last month with $250 million in financing and a promise of creating 100 jobs within five years.

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AAVogen Inc., a biotech company that is developing gene therapeutics for muscle wasting disease, welcomes Lawson Macartney, DVM/PhD as the newest member of its Science Advisory Board.

Dr. Macartney is a 25-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry and currently chairs the Board of Directors for Viking Therapeutics. He has also held senior leadership positions at Ambrx, ScoutBio, Shire, GlaxoSmithKline and AstraMerck.

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Baltimore health technology startup b.well Connected Health has raised millions of dollars in funding to support big growth plans.

According to four separate documents recently filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, b.well has raised a total of $8.2 million in convertible debt funding from more than 60 investors.

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The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Extramural Research (OER) provides the corporate framework for NIH research administration, ensuring scientific integrity, public accountability, and effective stewardship of the NIH extramural research portfolio. The OER is seeking a Supervisory Medical Officer (Research) or Ph.D. Clinical Research Nurse to serve as the Director of a new division with oversight for human subjects research and clinical trial policy and process implementation.

The Director of this new division will provide key leadership and expertise in human subjects research and clinical trial scientific program management. If you have a passion for innovation and implementing change, experience developing research initiatives, conducting human subjects research, and administering clinical trials, AND you want to play a significant role in a dynamic organization with far-reaching impact on advancing clinical research, then this is a unique opportunity to play a leading role in launching this new division.

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MedImmune has been named one of The Washington Post’s 2018 Top Workplaces in the Washington, D.C. area. Selection is based solely on employee feedback, which measured several aspects of workplace culture, including alignment, execution, and connection.

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More than 20 companies in Montgomery County made this year’s list of Inc. 5000 fastest growing companies. The report, published, earlier this week, ranked the fastest-growing private companies across the nation.

Mindoula Health in Silver Spring was ranked the highest in the county coming in at No. 36. According to the report, Mindoula grew by 7,310 percent in the last three years.

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Due to company graduations, co-working and individual office space is becoming available at the Montgomery County innovation centers located in Rockville and Germantown. Each location offers shared meeting and kitchenette/lunch room space, and affordable, flexible lease terms. Tenants in these facilities also have access to BHI Entrepreneurs-in-Residence analysts, and other professional staff for additional support. For more information, contact BHI.

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Calling all pediatric cardiovascular devices $100K competition now accepting proposals

We are now accepting proposals for our annual pediatric medical device pitch competition! New this year, the competition is focused on pediatric cardiovascular devices – a significant unmet need for children. The competition will be held on Sunday, Sept. 23, 2018 in Philadelphia, Penn. at our 6th Annual Pediatric Device Innovation Symposium. The deadline to apply is Monday, Sept. 10. For additional competition details and to apply, click here.

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Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine leaders plan to invest $100 million over the next five years to hire new faculty and support programs aimed at unraveling the mysteries of biology. Such “basic” science discoveries underpin virtually every major medical breakthrough, say the leaders, and they have appointed structural biologist James Berger, Ph.D., to direct the Johns Hopkins institute dedicated to this effort.

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In 2019, the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) will present the seventh annual Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences, a $100,000 award recognizing outstanding achievement by a promising young scientist in biomedical research. The Prize is made possible by a generous gift from philanthropist Ann Lurie.

The awardee will be selected by a jury of six distinguished biomedical researchers, chaired by Solomon H. Snyder, M.D., Distinguished Service Professor of Neuroscience, Pharmacology & Psychiatry, The Solomon H. Snyder Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

The Award will be presented at the FNIH Award Ceremony on Wednesday, May 22, 2019 in Washington, D.C.

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MedImmune is one of the 300+ BioHealth success stories in Montgomery County. Meet JoAnn Suzich, Ph.D., VP of Research and Microbial Sciences, who shares the incredible health innovation happening on MedImmune’s campus in Montgomery County.

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State Profiles is an interactive website providing access to state-level data on science and engineering (S&E) personnel and finances and state rankings. State Profiles displays up to 7 state profiles of the user’s choice. Data are available from surveys sponsored by the National Science Foundation on employed science, engineering, or health (SEH) doctorate holders; S&E doctorates awarded, including by major S&E fields; SEH graduate students and postdoctorates; federal research and development obligations by agency and performer; total and business R&D expenditures; and higher education R&D performance, including by major S&E fields. Data available from other sources include population, civilian labor force, per capita personal income, federal expenditures, patents, small business innovation research awards, and gross domestic product. All data are available for download. Data cover 2003 to present.

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The majority of healthcare organizations — 63 percent — say they are planning to invest more than $1 million into blockchain in 2019, according to a Deloitte report.

Deloitte conducted an online survey of 1,053 senior executives from companies with at least $500 million in annual revenue from seven countries — Canada, China, France, Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States — between March 26 and April 5 for its global blockchain report.

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Scientists have developed a way to grow miniature versions of human organs; some of the weirdest organoids are the mini brains.

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Francis Collins did not take off his pants.

To the contrary, he could sense something wasn’t quite right — perhaps immediately, when his heavyset and dubiously bearded interviewer, sitting in a motorized scooter, began by asking: “Why are big agriculture putting chemicals into our food to make people transgender?”

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