455th Edition, May 11, 2021

Rich Bendis welcomes Dr. Anne Khademian, Executive Director, The Universities at Shady Grove, on BioTalk to discuss Higher Ed in Montgomery County, their Biomedical Sciences and Engineering (BSE) facility, and Strategic Partnerships.

Listen now on Apple https://apple.co/3xYZG9P , Google https://bit.ly/3eyQ6mm, Spotify https://spoti.fi/3o4vztl, and TuneIn https://bit.ly/2SHbI7N.

Dr. Anne Khademian was named to serve as the Universities at Shady Grove’s third executive director in October 2020, following a nationwide search and her appointment to the post by Dr. Jay Perman, Chancellor of the University System of Maryland. As executive director of USG – a regional higher education center of USM in Montgomery County, with programs from nine universities on one campus – Dr. Khademian also holds the title of Associate Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs for USM.

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ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND, May 10, 2021 – BioHealth Innovation Inc. (BHI) announces the addition of Dr. Natsumi Takahashi-Vitiello, PhD in the role of Analyst. In her new position, Dr. Takahashi-Vitiello will assist the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) Program at BHI in the evaluation of early-stage technologies, strategic planning for start-up companies, and identification/developmental strategies of new venture opportunities.

 “I am pleased to welcome Dr. Natsumi Takahashi-Vitiello to the BHI family,” said Richard Bendis, BHI President, and CEO. “Her biohealth business experience and scientific background will support the BHI clients in their commercialization and fund-raising activities.”

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Ellume, an Australian company specializing in diagnostics solutions for infectious diseases, is set to open its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Frederick, county officials announced Monday.

The 180,000-square-foot facility in the Progress Labs Corporate Park off Md. 85 will serve as a manufacturing plant, where Ellume will make at-home COVID-19 tests and bring an estimated 1,500 jobs to Frederick County by 2022. 

“This is great news for Frederick County,” Frederick County Executive Jan Gardner said in a news release. “Ellume is on the cutting edge, making products that will help the world to overcome this health pandemic. We are excited to welcome Ellume to our thriving life science and biopharma family.”

Image: Courtesy photo via ellumehealth.com

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Maryland’s biohealth boom continues, with Australian bio company Ellume announcing its entrance in the United States. Ellume, a Queensland digital diagnostics company, recently signed a $231.8 million agreement with the federal government to accelerate domestic production of its COVID-19 home tests. The company will establish a manufacturing facility in Maryland, its first in the United States, to accommodate the demand for its products targeting infectious diseases.

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An ambitious push to create a “Global Pandemic Center” in suburban Maryland got a $500,000 boost Tuesday from the Montgomery County Council, which said the project could help drive the county’s post-pandemic economic recovery and foster resilience against the next major health crisis.

Spearheaded by the regional nonprofit Connected DMV, the center would involve scientists and policymakers from across the globe but operate primarily from the D.C. region, with a likely headquarters in Montgomery.

Image: Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich (D). (Michael S. Williamson/The Washington Post)

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The University of Maryland will launch a new business development arm to nurture quantum-focused startups, President Darryll J. Pines announced last night at an event honoring the institution’s inventions, startup, mentor and student entrepreneurs of the year.

The Quantum Startup Foundry will support new businesses in the quantum technology field, which Pines said stands “poised to disrupt everything from cybersecurity and energy, to medical discoveries and the financial field.” It will be created through an initial $25 million investment from the university’s newly established Discovery Fund, with key funding from the state of Maryland.

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COLUMBIA, Md. (May 10, 2021)—The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission has approved funding to its second-round of 2021 recipients for a total of $6,052,901. The Commission has also appointed Amritha Jaishankar, Ph.D., the current MSCRF Director – Programs & Strategic Alliances, to succeed Dan Gincel, Ph.D., as Executive Director of the MSCRF, effective May 14, 2021.

“We thank Dr. Gincel for his leadership and many contributions to the MSCRF over the course of his 14 years as Executive Director, during which he consistently challenged us to grow and evolve to meet the needs of the Maryland stem cell community, and we are delighted that Dr. Jaishankar will lead the MSCRF through its next chapter,” said Dr. Debra Mathews, Chair of the Commission. “Dr. Jaishankar’s leadership, dedication, and tremendous work with the MSCRF and our stem cell community over past few years make her the ideal person to take us forward.”

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After spending the past five years fostering economic development in Montgomery County, Sarah Miller is turning her attention to the biopharma industry and the BioHealth Capital Region. Starting May 3, Miller joined BioHealth Innovation, Inc. as Vice President of Economic Development.

Miller transitions to BHI from her previous role as Vice President of Strategy for the Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation (MCEDC). In her new role, Miller will solely focus on economic development opportunities within the biopharma industry across Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. A laser-like focus on one industry will be new to Miller. She is no stranger to it, having worked in Montgomery County for the past several years. In her role with the MCEDC, Miller has worked with the development of the Germantown Innovation Center on the campus of Montgomery College campus in Germantown.

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Now we are in the final phase of completing the last work in BioPartner 5. The second floor is ready to be used. Today, MIMETAS received the keys tot their brand new floor in BioPartner 5. We would like to give Mimetas a warm welcome!

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Boeing donated $50 million to help found Virginia Tech’s Innovation campus, a billion-dollar project area leaders hope will bring together power-players in the region — like Amazon — to boost economic growth and build a pipeline of STEM talent for businesses.

The university announced the multi-year gift in a celebratory press event on Tuesday, emphasizing how it will benefit underrepresented groups in tech fields, including women, people of color and low-income populations. The project draws attention for its location, two miles from Amazon’s HQ2 campus, near a future transit station and across the river from Washington D.C., but speakers focused on the promise the Innovation Campus has for students.

Image: Concept art for the Virginia Tech Innovation Campus’s academic building. (Virginia Tech)

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Barrier function of epithelia is crucial for maintaining homeostasis in the human body. Its disruption in organs such as the intestine, kidney, lung, skin, eye, or the blood– brain-barrier is a hallmark of numerous diseases and toxic effects.1–3 Studying epithelial barrier function is essential for understanding disease processes, development of new therapeutic treatments, and investigation of compound safety. Permeability of epithelia grown in vitro is therefore routinely evaluated by fundamental and pharmaceutical researchers alike. In addition, proper barrier function is an important prerequisite when studying transport phenomena across epithelia in vitro.

Image: https://pubs.rsc.org

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Aziyo Biologics Inc. is executing growth plans it established ahead of its initial public offering last fall — and starting to see results.

The regenerative medicine firm, which started trading on the Nasdaq in October, saw a first-quarter revenue increase year over year “despite some ongoing Covid-related headwinds,” President and CEO Ron Lloyd said in a statement this week.

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HOLON, Israel, May 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN), a clinical-stage cancer immunotherapy company and a leader in predictive target discovery, today announced that it has expanded its research collaboration with Johns Hopkins University to include studies investigating the biology of a novel myeloid target that was computationally-discovered by Compugen. Initial preclinical studies demonstrate the potential of this target to serve as a novel myeloid immunomodulator, with significant tumor growth inhibition observed upon genetic deletion in in-vivo studies.

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The Maryland Department of Commerce has announced a slew of new senior staff appointments.

Two of the positions had been vacant for more than a year.

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Office real estate investment trusts (REITs) have been under pressure for the past year. The coronavirus pandemic has caused some investors to even question the concept of the office REIT. After all, if companies can work from home without much of a disruption, why will companies spend so much on expensive urban office space in the future?

The question has created headwinds for some office REIT operators. But while many office REITs saw big declines in income over the past 12 months, one office REIT appears to be bucking this trend.

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PETERSBURG—Governor Ralph Northam today announced that AMPAC Fine Chemicals (AFC), a leading manufacturer of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) in the United States, will invest $25 million to expand its existing operation on North Normandy Drive in the City of Petersburg. Virginia successfully competed with California and Texas for the project, which will create 156 new jobs. Governor Northam joined company leaders, key partners, and local economic development officials at AMPAC’s Petersburg facility to make the announcement.

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The AIM-HI Accelerator Fund’s Women’s Venture Competition is a first-of-its-kind program that provides funding, coaching and networking opportunities to women-led oncology start-ups. Subject to due diligence and negotiation, the winning company of 2021 Women’s Venture Competition will receive a total of $1 million in investment from AIM-HI and co-investors. Click here to download the flyer!

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Closing the markets today with our friends from Vaccitech!

Based in Oxford, UK, Vaccitech develops vaccines and T cell immunotherapies to treat and prevent diseases of global importance.

Congratulations to CEO Bill Enright and #NasdaqListed $VACC on this week’s listing.

Image: https://www.linkedin.com

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