As we heard at our big MoCo Forecast event this morning in Bethesda, growing jobs there will require wooing those you already have. (If you have leftover Valentine’s chocolate, put it to work.)
BioHealth Innovation CEO Rich Bendis (far left, as well as on the big screen as an ace ballplayer) says variety should be a big part of job growth: “A balanced portfolio of new, existing, and large anchors.” Going international should also be a focus; Rich feels the county should lock down foreign tech companies who might otherwise look to Boston, Silicon Valley, Philly, or the NC Research Triangle. Rich was joined on our first panel by Ike, Technology Council of Maryland CEO Phil Schiff, and Foulger-Pratt VP Brigg Bunker.
Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE: EBS) announced today that it has completed its acquisition of Cangene Corporation for $222 million in cash. After payment by Cangene of transaction related costs, Emergent expects to receive approximately $40 million of cash from Cangene in connection with closing. The completion of the acquisition follows the successful conclusion of all closing conditions, including approval by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and a positive vote by Cangene shareholders at a special shareholder meeting held on February 12, 2014. The transaction is consistent with Emergent’s growth plan in that it diversifies the company’s revenue mix, adds commercial product sales and contributes to earnings growth.
Roger Jeffs hopes that someday all medicines will be classified as orphan drugs. Allow the president and COO of United Therapeutics (Nasdaq: UTHR) to explain. He wants the pharmaceutical world to get to a place where every drug is so specifically targeted that it would apply to only a few people worldwid
20/20 GeneSystems, Inc. (“20/20”) announced today that the National Cancer Institute has awarded the company a cost-sharing Phase II Small Business Innovation and Research (SBIR) contract to develop, optimize, and validate (analytically and clinically) a test to help predict whether a patient with advanced stage kidney cancer (renal cell carcinoma) is likely to benefit from anti-angiogenic therapy. The anticipated end result is a diagnostic test that will indicate to oncologists the appropriate treatment for patients.
AnthroTronix (www.atinc.com), an award-winning research and development (R&D) company that designs human-inspired products that define the future of mobile technology, recently awarded the Department of Psychiatry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine a subcontract to use AnthroTronix’s technology to study ways to improve clinical care in the treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). This subcontract is in support of a U.S Army Rapid Innovation Fund project at AnthroTronix.
Researcher Adam Kaplin, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will lead the research. The subcontract supports the work designed to enhance patient care, specifically related to the application of AnthroTronix’s Defense Automated Neurobehavioral Assessment (DANA), mobile brain vitals health assessment tool.
Faculty researchers from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and Johns Hopkins University were recognized for their groundbreaking research and its impact on human health with 2014 BioMaryland LIFE (Leading Innovative Faculty Entrepreneurs) awards. Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development Secretary Dominick Murray and BioMaryland Center Executive Director Dr. Judy Britz presented the awards to Dr. Jonathan Powell of the Johns Hopkins University Kimmel Cancer Center to further develop a new therapeutic agent for diabetes type II; and to Dr. Eduardo Davila of the University of Maryland, Baltimore for his T-cell based universal immunotherapy platform to fight cancer. First awarded in 2010, the LIFE prizes are two $50,000 grants funded by the BioMaryland Center along with the two universities to help advance research in biotech and biopharma, medical devices, or diagnostics that have the greatest potential for commercial application.
An entrepreneurial culture is alive and well in the nation’s capital, bolstered by a wave of successful startups of various shapes and sizes that are creating jobs and improving the world. In pursuing continued economic growth that is not dependent upon federal funds, the D.C. community must focus on encouraging and supporting more entrepreneurs. One clear path to accelerating the evolution of a startup culture, highlighted by the University of Maryland’s recent recognition as the top public university for technology entrepreneurship in the 2013 StartEngine College Index, is through our local institutions of higher education. Their curricula, access to space and technology, and vast alumni networks make universities the perfect home for entrepreneurship, and their efforts to create a new generation of entrepreneurs need our community’s support.
Federal and Maryland officials signed an agreement on Tuesday with the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg to develop new cyber security technology and provide opportunities for students in the state.
The agreement plans to expand on a February 2012 collaboration agreement signed by NIST, Maryland officials and Montgomery County officials to establish the National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence.
Just what is a “National Cybersecurity Center of Excellence,” anyway?
I’ve heard this question muttered repeatedly, in one form or another, in the course of covering the ongoing bio vs. cyber dispute over the future of the William Hanna Center for Innovation at Shady Grove.
University of Maryland (UM) Ventures and Harpoon Medical, Inc. announced today that Harpoon Medical has obtained exclusive rights to a portfolio of technologies for cardiac valve repair from the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). The licensed technology was developed in the Division of Cardiac Surgery at The University of Maryland School of Medicine. A $200,000 award from the BioMaryland Center and a $50,000 BioMaryland LIFE (Leading Innovative Faculty Entrepreneurs) Prize supported the company’s early development efforts. Since the company’s formation in early July 2013, the Harpoon Medical team has secured more than $300,000 in competitive grants and additional award funding from the BioMaryland Center and TEDCO.
“Harpoon Medical is a particularly exciting UMB startup and the minimally invasive technology for mitral valve repair – without the need to open the chest or stop the heart – has the potential to dramatically improve patient care,” said Phil Robilotto, the University’s Assistant Vice President, Office of Technology Transfer. “Harpoon’s management team has a well-established track record, and Harpoon has already made significant progress on both the product development and fundraising fronts.”
Please join Montgomery County’s business, nonprofit, philanthropic, government, education and resident leaders in a discussion about building the workforce of the future.
To begin, Montgomery Moving Forward is focusing on jobs – learning together, advocating together and experimenting together– so that more residents achieve self-sufficiency, more local businesses find qualified workers, more communities contribute to and share in countywide prosperity and so the County can establish lasting pathways to success for our changing community. Symposium Planning Committee: representatives of A Wider Circle; CollegeTracks; Community Foundation for Montgomery County/Community Foundation for the National Capital Region; Jewish Social Service Agency; Identity; LAYC/Maryland Multicultural Youth Center; Montgomery Business Development Corporation; Montgomery Coalition for Adult English Literacy; Montgomery College; Montgomery County Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families; Montgomery County Council; Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, Workforce Services Division; Montgomery County Public Schools; Universities at Shady Grove; Workforce Solutions Group
Keeping your computer safe is always a top priority for students, government officials and nine-to-fivers paranoid about losing their tech investment, or worse – face a security breach. Thanks to a new product from University of Maryland-based CoolCAD Electronics LLC, though, you may not have to worry about your computer’s well-being any more.
The startup from College Park just launched a 30-day Kickstarter campaign for its new GateKeeper Chain security product, a trendy-looking little key fob that automatically locks your computer when you leave. Then, once you return, it unlocks.
Southern Maryland’s economic potential lies in the region’s higher education institutions producing highly technical and skilled workers, according to area leaders.
Military officials, educators, business leaders and others discussed Southern Maryland’s potential economic growth Monday during a forum at the Prince Frederick campus of the College of Southern Maryland.
Epidarex Capital, a leading international early-stage life science venture capital fund, has invested in Confluence Life Sciences Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the rapid discovery and development of drugs to address unmet needs in cancer and chronic inflammatory disease.
Confluence’s innovative KINect Technology Platform enables the identification and development of new protein kinase drugs in a fraction of the time of other approaches. Confluence’s team of world-class drug developers has created a pipeline of drug candidates which focus on creating kinase inhibitors targeting hard-to-treat cancers. Confluence’s lead program targets the kinase TAK1, which is important in cancer cell transformation, metastasis, tumor growth and drug resistance, especially in pancreatic and other cancers such as breast and colon.
Scott Block has always been interested in entrepreneurship. As an undergraduate , he looked for opportunities to get involved in start-ups at the University of Maryland, and he helped a few other students build Web applications for their own business ideas. Over time, he saw how difficult it was for those entrepreneurial students to connect with others like them on campus.
Two other students, Avi Eisenberger and Justin Searles, shared Block’s frustration. The three decided to work together to solve the problem by creating a place for student entrepreneurs to come together online, share ideas and track their ventures. The team created a platform and app called VentureBoard.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) invites small businesses to submit Phase I research applications under this Federal Funding Opportunity (FFO). Firms with strong research capabilities in any of the areas listed in Section 9 of the Full Announcement/FFO document are encouraged to participate. Applications not addressing one of the Subtopics in Section 9 are not responsive to this FFO. NIST offers two types of Subtopics in Section 9 of this FFO: standard research “R” and tech transfer “TT” Subtopics. Both “R” and “TT” subtopics are intended to cultivate private sector innovation and foster and encourage participation by minority and disadvantaged persons in technological innovation.
It’s a bit surreal to go to a science fair at a hospital. But the group of health IT companies from DreamIt Venture’s accelerator coupled with demonstrations of technology from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and University of Pennsylvania helped set the scene for a new initiative by DreamIt that’s starting at CHOP. The program is designed to help companies and institutions develop enterprise software and commercially viable companies.
DreamIt Ventures’ Open Canvas@CHOP is a one-year program at the pediatric hospital to help it further develop its reputation for pediatric innovation but in enterprise software. The program will also see two teams from the institution take part in DreamIt Health’s next accelerator class in Philadelphia this summer.
Illumina Inc. is launching what it bills as the world’s first genomics incubator, saying it has teamed up with technology billionaire Yuri Milner and Silicon Valley Bank to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in startups.
The San Diego maker of genome sequencing equipment said that it plans to offer aspiring genomics businesses both funding and access to lab equipment. Work would take place in the San Francisco Bay Area.
For Marie Johnson, coming up with a better way to detect coronary artery disease is both a business and a personal mission.
Johnson is CEO of AUM Cardiovascular, a Minnesota medical device company that’s developing a potentially cheaper, simpler, eight-minute test to detect signs of coronary artery disease — the primary cause of heart attack.
UCSF and electronics giant Samsung are establishing a center for digital health care innovation, they said Friday, an endeavor that seeks to accelerate the development of mobile technologies for preventive health care.
The lab, to be located on UCSF’s Mission Bay campus, will function as a kind of cross-cultural exchange, the rare kind of space where technologists and innovators will be able to validate technologies like smartphone apps or wearable sensors alongside top medical researchers. At the same time, researchers and clinicians will be able to funnel ideas through Samsung designers and engineers.
Here in Washington, we woke up to a thick blanket of snow from the largest snowstorm of an already active winter season. The federal government, schools and stores have closed. It got me thinking about what a snow day can tell you about your office, agency or company. It’s a good test that reveals a lot about how you are organized, your technology and your culture.
At my company, we regularly work across multiple client sites, at home, in our D.C. office and in multiple states—snow or no snow. Flexibility is one of our core values. So when a snow day hits, we just keep going. It’s not that different than any other day working from home except for the parents of young children whose schools are closed.
BioHealth Innovation (BHI) is a regionally-oriented, private-public partnership functioning as an innovation intermediary focused on commercializing market-relevant biohealth innovations and increasing access to early-stage funding in Maryland.
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