456th Edition, May 18, 2021

Julie Lenzer, Chief Innovation Officer, The University of Maryland, joins Rich Bendis on BioTalk to discuss Ventures, Collaborations and growing the Quantum footprint in the BioHealth Capital Region.

Listen now via Apple https://apple.co/3on1a9C, Google https://bit.ly/3ovfj4M, Spotify https://spoti.fi/2Qn44hY, and TuneIn https://bit.ly/3w3Au0i.

Julie Lenzer is the Chief Innovation Officer at the University of Maryland and Acting Director for the newly-launched Quantum Startup Foundry. In these roles, she is charged with fostering and deploying innovation to drive economic and social impact from both university-affiliated and community based innovators. She currently oversees UM Ventures, the university’s tech transfer office, the Maryland Small Business Development Center (SBDC), the Maryland International Incubator (MI2), the Mixed/Augmented/Virtual Reality Innovation Center (MAVRIC), as well as university engagement with the Discovery District (UMD’s 150 acre research park). An active angel investor, she is also on the investment committee of the $10M Maryland Momentum Fund.

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BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI), is a Montgomery County innovation intermediary which translates market-relevant research into commercial success by bringing together management, funding, and markets. BHI is seeking an experienced life science professional with venture investment experience to join the BHI EIR team and serve as a part time Entrepreneur-in- Residence (EIR) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for the National Institute on Aging (NIA).

This position will report to and work closely with our lead at the NIH Office of the Director, Office of Extramural Research and specifically support the portfolio of companies funded by NIA’s ~$130M annual investment in small businesses focused on Alzheimer’s disease & related dementias, disorders of aging and supportive technologies for senior living and care providers.

Click here for more information.

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Are you a biohealth start-up in Maryland, DC or Virginia seeking feedback on your biohealth business idea, pitch deck, or commercialization plan? Schedule your feedback session with BHI EIRs on one of the following dates. Pre-registration is required; Sign up here tinyurl.com/EIRfeedback

For questions/more information, contact BHI.

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ROCKVILLE, Md., May 12, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Emmes (the “Company”), a global, full-service Clinical Research Organization (CRO) dedicated to supporting the advancement of public health and biopharmaceutical innovation and a portfolio company of Behrman Capital, today announced that it has acquired Orphan Reach, a CRO specialized in clinical research related to rare diseases. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

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GERMANTOWN, Md. & HILDEN, Germany–(BUSINESS WIRE)–QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced it has received Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the fast and easy-to-use QIAreach® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Total Test.

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A longtime pediatric anesthesiologist at Children’s National Hospital, Dr. Julia Finkel has long wanted a more objective way to measure how much pain patients are feeling.

“For pain, we do it very empirically,” Dr. Finkel said. “The patient says they hurt, we give them a drug. They either feel better or they don’t…It’s done in a very empirical way without a physiologic measure, and there are consequences for that.”

Image: https://technical.ly/

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Gaithersburg, MD, May 4, 2021 – Cartesian Therapeutics, a fully integrated, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering RNA cell therapy in and beyond oncology, today announced a $2 million competitive R&D award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support its clinical development for Descartes-30, the first RNA cell therapy for respiratory diseases.

This is the fourth Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant awarded to Cartesian to support its clinical-stage investigational therapies developed with the company’s proprietary RNA Armory® combination therapy platform. Cartesian previously won research grants from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) for Descartes-11 in multiple myeloma ($2.3 million) and from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) for Descartes-08 in generalized myasthenia gravis ($2 million).

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By 2022, Frederick County will see an estimated 1,500 new jobs after diagnostics solutions company Ellume moves in.

The Australian-based company, which makes at-home COVID-19 tests, 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 be home to the plant.

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GAITHERSBURG, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to providing therapies to treat infectious diseases, today announced that the company has closed a $40.75 million Series B investment round led by Deerfield Management Company. Also joining the Series B round are existing investor Mayo Clinic and an additional undisclosed institutional investor. Proceeds of this financing will be used to accelerate clinical development of PhageBank™ phage therapies, as well as for general corporate purposes.

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A Johns Hopkins University-led team has created an inexpensive portable device and cellphone app to diagnose gonorrhea in less than 15 minutes and determine if a particular strain will respond to frontline antibiotics.

The invention improves on traditional testing in hospital laboratories and clinics, which typically takes up to a week to deliver results—time during which patients can unknowingly spread their infections. The team’s results appear today in Science Translational Medicine.

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Montgomery County and the region’s booming life sciences ecosystem is reaping the benefits of a talent pipeline being developed by the Universities at Shady Grove, a unique higher education campus in Rockville that brings together approximately 80 undergraduate and graduate degree and certificate programs from nine different institutions within the University System of Maryland.

Image: https://biobuzz.io

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About the business: TaylorMade Experience is a Silver Spring-based event management business that also assists clients with fundraising efforts. It is a certified woman-owned small business, has about a dozen employees, and ranked 15th among the Washington Business Journal’s most recent List of largest meeting and event planning companies based on the 40 local events it held in 2019.

Image: Christina Taylor launched TaylorMade Experience in 2008 as an events management business but made the pivot to all-virtual events during the pandemic. TAYOR-MADE EVENTS

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Johns Hopkins University and Bloomberg Philanthropies today announced the launch of a $150 million effort to directly address historic underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math fields, and to prepare a new, more diverse generation of researchers and scholars to assume leading roles in tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges.

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Breakthrough discoveries and unprecedented capital funding have heightened the dynamic nature of the life sciences industry. This surge of resources should fuel a new level of growth in research & development (R&D) and accelerate the demand for quality manufacturing space.

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In a news cycle dominated by vaccines and an economy focused on innovation, cities see life sciences as not just a good bet but a critical piece of their economic development future. But while many metros believe they can attract jobs with increased investment in lab space, only a relative handful can become new centers of industry growth.

Image: Courtesy Hines Levit Green, a forthcoming development in Houston, exemplifies the spread of life sciences campuses across the U.S.

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The rapid development of new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments over the past year is a triumph of innovation. Billions of vaccine doses are being manufactured and should be distributed to all adults globally over the next 18 months. But some argue that suspending intellectual property (IP) rights to allow any company to manufacture vaccines will mean faster access for developing countries. These arguments have culminated in a proposal at the World Trade Organization for a temporary global waiver on COVID-19-related IP rights.

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Set on the historic Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus will be a one-of-kind innovation hub. The nearly 12-acre campus will house leading entrepreneurs, thinkers, innovators and experts aiming to improve the health and well-being of patients around the world. Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC will occupy a 32,000—square foot facility open to biotech, medical device, consumer and health technology start-ups aiming to develop new medicines, medical devices, precision diagnostics and health tech applications. Additionally, in collaboration with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a component of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, JLABS @ Washington, DC will be the hub for BLUE KNIGHT. Blue Knight is a collaboration dedicated to and aimed at anticipating health security threats, activating the global innovation community, and amplifying technological advancements to prepare for and respond to our rapidly evolving global health environment. We look forward to the opening of JLABS @ Washington, DC in collaboration with our partners at Children’s National Hospital and BARDA to support innovation for patients.

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