542nd Edition, January 18, 2023

Linshom Medical raising $3M series A to launch respiratory monitor

Ellicott City startup Linshom Medical is looking to raise a $3 million round as it works to develop a medical device that catches the warning signs of a respiratory crisis.

CEO Richard Hughen plans to use the series A raise, as well as a $2.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, to fund a study to prove the company’s respiratory monitor is effective at detecting breathing issues. The company previously raised $1.5 million in convertible notes. Linshom has raised $1 million of its $3 million series A goal so far, with support from the Maryland Momentum Fund, the Maryland Technology Development Corp. and other investors.

Once the studies are complete, the three-person company is planning to do a soft launch in a few hospital systems late this year.

Today, College Park, Maryland quantum leader IonQ announced its first-ever acquisition.

The DMV company acquired the operating assets of Entangled Networks, a Toronto, Canada-based startup founded in 2021. Entangled Networks specialized in enabling computing for multiple quantum processors, including those that are distributed. Through the deal, the Entangled team will become the staff of IonQ Canada, the quantum pioneer’s first outpost in the country.

Life Science Start Ups: Connect with Investors at the Investor Hub Event at JLABS @ Washington, DC

Are you a promising early-stage life sciences start up seeking pre-seed or series A funding in the next 12 to 18 months?

If so, you might be a fit for the Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS (JLABS) Annual East North America (ENA) Regional Investor Hub Event at JLABS @ Washington, DC, on March 9, 2023.

Visit https://jji.jnjinnovation.com/ena-investor-hub-event to learn more and register.

Biopharmaceutical company Kite Pharma will expand its footprint in Frederick County with a new warehouse that will bring 100 new jobs to the area, the company announced Tuesday.

Kite, a Los Angeles-based subsidiary of Gilead Sciences (NASDAQ: GILD), will build an approximately 70,000-square-foot raw materials warehouse to support its global cell therapy manufacturing network. The company's CAR T-cell therapy uses a person's own immune system to recognize, attack and destroy certain types of cancer with a one-time, individualized treatment.

Deployed military personnel frequently face numerous health and safety hazards as part of their daily activities in service to their nation. Among many dangers is the possibility of encountering hemorrhagic fever viruses (HFVs), a group of highly infectious pathogens such as the Ebola virus. Many of these diseases do not currently have effective therapeutics and can be prevalent in areas where service members are deployed, putting them at risk of exposure.

George Mason University infectious disease researcher Aarthi Narayanan has partnered with the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and Cyclica, a biotechnology company based in Canada, to identify potential broad-spectrum therapeutics for illnesses triggered by HFVs and similar pathogens.

Sanofi has thrown its financial weight behind its venture capital unit, making a $750 million, multi-year commitment to enable the financier to build on a year in which it backed 10 companies globally.

Sanofi Ventures is a well-established player in the biotech VC space, with its roots dating back to the formation of Sanofi-Genzyme BioVentures in 2011 and beyond that to the establishment of Genzyme Ventures a decade earlier. But Sanofi has largely stayed in the shadows, leaving its venture unit to build out a portfolio without publicly disclosing the details of how it supports the fund.

GAITHERSBURG, Md., January 12, 2023–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc., (APT) a clinical-stage biotechnology company advancing the APT phage bank, the world’s largest therapeutic phage initiative for treatment of bacterial infectious diseases, today announced the first patient has been dosed in the PHAGE clinical trial, evaluating bacteriophage therapy in adults with cystic fibrosis (CF) who carry Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa) in their lungs. The trial is evaluating whether the bacteriophage, or "phage," therapy is safe and able to reduce the amount of bacteria in the lungs of volunteers. The trial is being conducted by the Antibacterial Resistance Leadership Group (ARLG) which consists of more than 100 leading experts, working together to combat the ongoing antibacterial resistance crisis and improve patient care. ARLG is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The investigational phage therapeutic, WRAIR-PAM-CF1, was developed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) and is licensed to and manufactured by APT. The trial is expected to enroll a total of 72 patients at multiple sites across the country.

Image: Photo: Business Wire

The Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program offers grants for projects that team Maryland-based companies with University System of Maryland faculty to develop technology products and processes.

Join us for a free webinar to learn how MIPS can help advance your technology-based products by leveraging the facilities, resources, and expertise within Maryland’s public universities to create new products and opportunities!

Next webinar:
Thursday, January 19, 2023, at 1 p.m.
online via Zoom

Click to register

Mentia is honored to be selected for the inaugural Artificial Intelligence and Technology Collaboratory #A2Collective #johnshopkinsuniversity The National Institutes of Health Full story at https://lnkd.in/g6ewtb9W

Happy New Year! Maryland is coming off of a busy and successful year of business attraction and expansion. Continue reading to see the companies that committed to Maryland in the 4th quarter of 2022.

Our momentum continues into 2023, with many exciting new projects on the horizon. We look forward to connecting with industry colleagues at events this spring, and as always, we’re standing by to help you make your next project a success.

COLUMBIA, Md. (January 10, 2023) – TEDCO, Maryland’s economic engine for technology companies, announced a new collaboration between TEDCO’s Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII) and The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF). The MII Pop-up Event will take place on February 8 at HJF home office in Bethesda, Md., including the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and speakers from MII, TEDCO and HJF leadership.

“We’re very proud of MII’s successful track record when it comes to both collaboration and outcomes,” said Dr. Arti Santhanam, executive director of MII. “This MOU gives us the opportunity to expand on that success in partnership with the dedicated team at HJF. Together, we anticipate advancing new business creation with crucial military medical applications.”

Organizations across the globe are pivoting their workplace technology strategy and many employers are grappling with big questions about which tools are needed to create a thriving hybrid environment in 2023.

Based on a JLL survey of over 1,000 companies worldwide, a vast majority expect to make significant changes to their tech stack over the next three years. Download the infographic highlighting the workplace technologies that were consistently mentioned by employers as top priorities and discover why those technologies are prioritized and how they change workplace.

The BioHealth Capital Region (BHCR) and its life science ecosystem have a rich and deep history of pioneering scientific innovation, research, development, and commercialization. The region’s history has been written by life science anchor companies, scientific research universities, government research organizations, rich startup culture, and serial entrepreneurs, all of whom have played critical roles in transforming the BHCR into one of the most innovative and productive biocluster in the world.

Image: https://biobuzz.io/

To kick off the new year, The Galien Foundation is delighted to share with you highlights from the 2022 Prix Galien Awards Ceremony and recognize the incredible achievements of the Medalists  of the Prix Galien Golden Jubilee and the Prix Galien USA.

A new year means new opportunities to grow your business. If you're one of the millions of resolution makers who are using the new year to take their ventures to new heights, Maryland SBDC has the expertise to turn your goals into gains.

Whether your goal is to start a business, grow a business, or just learn something new, Maryland SBDC will jump-start your year with no-cost confidential, one-on-one consulting and low-cost training on topics ranging from business planning and financing to marketing and more.

Total research spending at American universities reached nearly $90 billion in 2021,1 2 and university licensing revenue has climbed to almost $3 billion a year.3 From robotics to agriculture to medicine, useful discoveries constantly emerge from academic labs. Yet policymakers often fail to recognize the critical role of intellectual property in driving all that spending, income, and innovation. Standing up for strong IP rights must be a priority for American universities.

Click here to read the full PDF Briefing.

There are now more Americans aged 65 and older than at any other point in history, and that number is expected to rise, according to the National Institute on Aging (NIA). With longer lifespans come challenges like Alzheimer’s, which about one in nine Americans aged 65 or older have.

The a2 Pilot Awards were created to encourage the development of tech for the elderly. Funded by the NIA with $40 million over the next five years, the awards announced today the first cohort of 33 projects selected for funding. The majority use artificial intelligence or machine learning tech, and 40% are led by women.