423rd Edition, September 15, 2020

Don’t miss your change to be named the BioHealth Startup with the Most Commectial Potential at the BHCR Forum, win $10,000 and more!

Applications due: 9/24

Finalists notified by: 10/2

Mandatory presenter coaching for finalists: 10/7

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A special BioTalk with former Crab Trap winners from the BioHealth Capital Region Forum. David Narrow, CEO of Sonavex, Bruce Lichorowic, President & CEO, Dave Saunders, CTO & Co-Founder of Galen Robotics, and Vijay Ravindran, Co-Founder & CEO of Floreo, Inc. give updates on their companies since winning the Crab Trap competition in previous years.

Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/3iHuNPv, Google https://bit.ly/2DXClOI, Spotify https://spoti.fi/3bXhgAx, TuneIn https://bit.ly/3iuENvc, or YouTube Audio https://bit.ly/33smGzz

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Are you and early stage company with innovative biohealth technology? Have you considered non-dilutive funding to advance your technology? Learn more about whether or not federal or state non-dilutive funding makes sense for you. Discuss potential strategies for success. Sign up for a free 1:1 advice and feedback regarding non-dilutive funding strategy and applications with BHI staff who have helped companies secured SBIR, STTR and other awards—at twice the national average win rate. This program is open to anyone, though scheduling priority is given to Montgomery County companies, courtesy support from MCEDC.

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A 2016 decision to link the research labs at the University of Maryland College Park with those at the University of Maryland at Baltimore is paying dividends in the competition for federal COVID-19 research dollars, a top education official told a science advisory panel on Wednesday.

The decision was a spinoff of the University of Maryland Strategic Partnership Act, said Laurie Ellen Locasio, vice president for research at the two institutions.

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Are you a start-up in Maryland, DC or Virginia seeking feedback on your biohealth business idea, pitch deck, or commercialization plan? Schedule your complimentary virtual feedback session with BHI Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and Analysts on one of the following dates: 8/26. (45 minute blocks of time beginning at 9:00 in the morning. Pre-registration is required; sign up www.tinyurl.com/EIRFeedback. For questions/more information, contact BHI

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ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Governor Larry Hogan today announced the acquisition of 250,000 rapid point-of-care antigen tests, which will be deployed to nursing homes, assisted-living facilities, and correctional and juvenile detention centers across the state. The purchase makes Maryland, the founding member of the bipartisan interstate testing compact with the Rockefeller Foundation, the first state in the compact to move forward with an order for rapid antigen tests.

Image: https://www.thebaynet.com

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Seoul Office Will Be Opening to Develop Immunomic Therapeutics Investigational Cell Therapy for Brain Cancer

September 10, 2020 08:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time SEOUL–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Immunomic Therapeutics, Inc., (“ITI”), a privately-held clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the study of nucleic acid immunotherapy platforms, originating in the United States recently opened its first office in South Korea. This continues to build on ITI’s overall strategy to be the partner-of-choice for innovative biotechnology companies in emerging centers of excellence worldwide.

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The Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) announced in July 2020 that it had completed the executive search for a new leader with the hiring of Troy LeMaile-Stovall, a seasoned leader with deep ties to the BioHealth Capital Region (BCHR).

LeMaile-Stovall just recently officially took the helm of TEDCO and we thought it a great time to catch up with him for a wide-ranging and insightful conversation about his background and vision for TEDCO and the BHCR biotech and life science ecosystem.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

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Richmond, VA, Sept. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) Board of Directors today announced Bob Stolle as the organization’s Chief Executive Officer and President of CIT. Stolle previously served as CIT’s Senior Vice President of Policy and Regional Initiatives as well as the head of CIT’s Entrepreneurial Ecosystems Division.

“Virginia’s entrepreneurship community has grown tremendously during Ed Albrigo’s tenure at CIT, and we are grateful for his dedicated service to our Commonwealth,” said Governor Ralph Northam. “I am pleased to welcome Bob Stolle to lead the agency and its efforts to advance our innovation economy.”

Image: The Center for Innovative Technology Announces Bob Stolle as Chief Executive Officer and President – https://www.globenewswire.com

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This invitation-only event is free for executive level biotech leaders and is presented by the Association of University Research Parks, AstraZeneca, BioHealth Innovation, Children’s National Health System, Emergent BioSolutions, George Mason University, J.P. Morgan, Johns Hopkins University, Maryland Department of Commerce, Virginia Bio, and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, P.C.

Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC set the bar high for biotech innovation. So please join us for our 6th Annual BioHealth Capital Region Forum that will highlight the accomplishments of today and chart our successes of tomorrow.

We are excited to bring you an exceptional line up of speakers to this virtual event!

*Please note that attendees’ name might be recorded if participating in the chat function during the event.

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We’re dedicated to helping cutting-edge innovators and leading investors connect. VSVC3 will be an engaging and immersive [live] interactive virtual summit providing startups the opportunity to gain the visibility they need and investors access to vetted deal flow.

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TED Talks began in 1984 as a conference originating in Silicon Valley where powerful voices in Technology, Entertainment, and Design came together to spread potent ideas with broad relevance. Today there are thousands of talks of 18 minutes or less, in more than 100 languages, covering topics ranging from science to global issues. Despite this diversity, all TED talks share a devotion to Ideas Worth Spreading.

Image: https://www.americangene.com

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The morning after the world learned that a closely watched clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine had been halted last week over safety concerns, the company’s chief executive disclosed that a person given the vaccine had experienced serious neurological symptoms.

Image: Pascal Soriot, chief executive of the drug company AstraZeneca, in Washington in February.Credit…Erin Schaff/The New York Times

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The cleverest of enemies thrive on surprise attacks. Viruses—and coronaviruses in particular—know this well. Remaining hidden in animal hosts for decades, they mutate steadily, sometimes serendipitously morphing into more effective and efficient infectious agents. When a strain with just the right combination of genetic codes that spell trouble for people makes the leap from animal to human, the ambush begins.

Image: Illustration by Peter Greenwood for TIME – https://time.com

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The National Institutes of Health today announced $129.3 million in scale-up and manufacturing support for a new set of COVID-19 testing technologies as part of its Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative. NIH is awarding contracts to nine companies for technologies that include portable point-of-care tests for immediate results and high-throughput laboratories that can return results within 24 hours. These tests add to initial awards made to seven companies on July 31, 2020.

Image: MatMaCorp’s Solas 8 portable detection system for SARS-CoV-2 is designed to improve on-site testing capabilities of CLIA labs in rural communities.MatMaCorp

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Virginia Tech’s research expenditures are up, in addition to an increase in sponsored awards by 15 percent, building upon the last fiscal year’s expenditure total of $542 million, despite the impact of COVID-19 felt nationally by higher education institutes, according to preliminary fiscal year end reports.

Image: Researchers Nisha Duggal (left) and James Weger-Lucarelli from the Fralin Life Sciences Institute and Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine are establishing a reverse genetics system for SARS-CoV-2 that will serve as the basis for vaccine design. Photo: Ray Meese, Virginia Tech. – https://theroanokestar.com

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Pasadena, California-based Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc. is planning a six-story, 169,812 sq. ft. lab and office building in Port Covington. The project is a collaboration between Alexandria and The Port Covington Development Team.

This building is proposed for lot E8 on the Chapter 1B Master Plan of the Port Covington project. This lot fronts a newly-aligned Cromwell St. and is adjacent to the northeast of the Rye Street Market complex. Rye Street Market is three connected buildings that make up 275,000 sq. ft. with 185,000 sq. ft. of office space, a 13,000 sq. ft. open-air market and food hall, 50,000 sq. ft. of pedestrian-oriented retail, a 12,000 sq. ft. meeting facility, and a 15,000 sq. ft. rooftop event space.

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2020 has shown us the demands that are made on tech to keep our society running. Whether it’s teams pivoting from in-office meetings to 100+ person Zoom chats or state governments having trouble processing unemployment because of overloaded systems, good tech, especially good civic tech is needed now more than ever.

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Baltimore, Md. (Sept. 15, 2020) – Dr. Anne Khademian, a Presidential Fellow and professor at Virginia Tech, has been appointed executive director of the Universities at Shady Grove, the University System of Maryland (USM) regional higher education center offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs from nine USM institutions at its campus in Rockville, Md.

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