Roughly three years after announcing that he was expanding his California bioscience incubator to San Antonio, InCube Labs founder Mir Imran may wish he had made the move even sooner.
InCube has found willing investors, as well as corporate and community support, in the nation’s seventh largest city. That has allowed the organization to adjust its expectations and strategies in a way that could prove to be hugely beneficial for the life sciences entity and for San Antonio long-term.
In laboratory studies, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have found that stem cells from a patient’s own fat may have the potential to deliver new treatments directly into the brain after the surgical removal of a glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain tumor.
The investigators say so-called mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have an unexplained ability to seek out damaged cells, such as those involved in cancer, and may provide clinicians a new tool for accessing difficult-to-reach parts of the brain where cancer cells can hide and proliferate anew. The researchers say harvesting MSCs from fat is less invasive and less expensive than getting them from bone marrow, a more commonly studied method.
Results of the Johns Hopkins proof-of-principle study are described online in the journal PLOS ONE.
Every week we give you a countdown of the top five to 10 companies or organizations from one of our Lists publishing in our Friday paper. This week I present to you the top five “Venture capital firms investing the most in Maryland companies,” ranked by total amount invested in Maryland companies in 2012. This information was provided to us by the folks at MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data from Thomson Reuters.
Vice President, R&D, University of Maryland, Baltimore
Jim Hughes became Vice President of Research and Development for the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) in December 2001. UMB’s nationally prominent schools of dentistry, law, medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and social work make it one of the top ten public academic healthcare centers in the country. Mr. Hughes’ office is responsible for expanding and administering sponsored research and technology commercialization at UMB. He is also leading UMB’s efforts to develop the UMB Bio Park, an ten-acre, one million square-foot research park that will employ over 2500 people. Prior to joining UMB, Mr. Hughes worked for the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) for six years, most recently as director of Technology and International Business. He led DBED’s efforts to recruit foreign-based businesses and technology-driven businesses to locate facilities in Maryland. Mr. Hughes has an MBA from the Columbia Business School and a BA from Davidson College.
One big East Coast pharmaceutical firm abandoned work on a hepatitis C drug this week, while another shuttered a young company that had cost it $720 million to acquire. But new ideas continue to burst forth, and investors pitched in $20 million for another hopeful startup.
The Connecticut company that figured out how to make a recombinant flu vaccine is now trying to invent a marketing strategy for it. And in New Jersey, one of the biggest sources of marketing data for drug companies snapped up a startup that helps organize all that information.
Known for its ancient castles and seaside mosques, the Turkish city of Trabzon is looking to raise its profile on a new front—biotechnology.
For inspiration on expanding the Trapzon region’s high-tech and environmental-based industry, a foreign delegation arrived in Baltimore on Tuesday to meet with the Maryland Department of Business & Economic Development.
New Enterprise Associates, a venture capital firm that’s invested some $13 billion in up-and-coming companies, has launched a brand-new design mentorship program to fuel innovation in the design industry. Called NEA Studio, the 12-week program will challenge five designers at a time.
Why the focus on design? “When a consumer gets a product, it’s usually because of the design of it,” said Dayna Grayson, an NEA partner, to Fast Company. “I feel like, if you’re really going to design a product and make it inherent at a company, it has to start at a founder level. So if the designer wants to be the founder, why not?”
At its annual meeting on March 8, the Maryland Business Incubation Association (MBIA) approved applications for membership for two new full incubator programs and one new associate program: The Harford Business Innovation Center, Betamore, and The Charles County Innovation Center (planning underway)—bringing current membership to 23 business incubators and innovation centers.
MBIA member organizations offer direct support to nearly 450 entrepreneurial ventures throughout the State from a wide variety of sectors. They foster entrepreneurship and contribute substantially to the Maryland economy through the creation of thousands of jobs and the generation of significant tax revenues.
The financial future looks bright for students at the University of Maryland College Park.
Recent graduates from Maryland earn the second highest starting salary among grads from all 50 state flagship schools.
Rockville biotech Sequella inc. is looking to raise at least $20 million to advance its lead antibiotic candidate through clinical trials in drug-resistant tuberculosis and the stomach bacteria H. pylori.
If there ever was a time for the company to hit the gas pedal, it’s now. The resurgence of tuberculosis, especially in populous nations such as India and Russia, has brought what was thought of as a 19th century disease back into the spotlight. And the rise of multiple-drug-resistant strains of TB has made that fear very real in the mind of the U.S. consumer.
