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You’ve Created the Technology. Put It to Work with I-Corps.

I-Corps at NIH is an entrepreneurship training program specifically designed for companies that received Small Business Innovation Research or Small Business Technology Transfer funding from NIH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). During this 8-week, hands-on program, you’ll learn how to focus your business plan and get the tools to bring your treatment to the patients who need it most.

I-Corps Program Benefits

• Get funding up to $55,000 to cover program costs.
• Receive training from biotech sector experts.
• Expand your professional network.
• Build the confidence and skills to create a comprehensive business model.
• Gain years of entrepreneurial skills in only weeks.

Questions about the program should be directed to the agency contact at your awarding NIH/CDC institute or to one of the contacts in the table below.

Expedited Bill 31-22 will alter eligibility requirements of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Matching Grant Program

ROCKVILLE, Md., Nov. 29, 2022—Today the Montgomery County Council unanimously passed legislation that will fuel economic development by providing the County Executive with greater flexibility regarding the administration of the County’s program to match federal Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer grants. The legislation is sponsored by Planning, Housing and Economic Development (PHED) Committee Chair Hans Riemer and Councilmembers Will Jawando and Andrew Friedson, who sit on the PHED Committee.

Illumina Accelerator alum Polaris Genomics is investigating how genomics can help diagnose post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues. The Maryland-based company is developing genomic panels that could more objectively screen people for PTSD and help them get the care they need.

“Our mission is to make these invisible wounds visible using the power of genomics,” says Polaris Co-Founder and CEO Charles Cathlin. “We believe genomics is a driving force to connect mental illness to its biological underpinnings. By doing that, we can decrease the stigma, suffering, silence, and suicide.”

Image: Polaris Chief Medical Officer Dr. Anne Naclerio and Polaris Co-Founder and CEO Charles Cathlin | Photo: Noah Willman

SANTA MONICA, Calif. & AMSTERDAM–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Neogene Therapeutics, Inc. (Neogene), a global clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the discovery, development and manufacturing of next-generation T-cell receptor therapies (TCR-Ts), today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by AstraZeneca.

With a shared goal of bringing cell therapies to patients with solid tumors, Neogene’s expertise in TCR-T discovery, development and manufacturing will strengthen AstraZeneca’s ambition to transform outcomes for patients.

The NIH Technology Transfer Program has won the Licensing Executive Society’s Deals of Distinction award for 2022. The Deals of Distinction Award is given to an outstanding licensing deal from the past year. Steve Ferguson, Special Advisor at the NIH Office of Technology Transfer, recently attended the LES award ceremony to accept the award on NIH’s behalf. Continue reading to learn about this award-winning license agreement from Steve himself.

For this LES “Deals of Distinction” Award the National Institutes of Health (NIH) licensed COVID-19 technologies arising from our intramural research to the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) for access through the World Health Organization’s (WHO) COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP). These licenses for COVID-19 technologies will enable global manufacturers to develop COVID-19 vaccines, treatments, and diagnostics for low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where access to COVID-19 countermeasures is severely lacking.

Updated 11/29

BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) and Montgomery County are pleased to announce the selection of Luis Gutierrez as a part-time “Executive in Residence”—a position dedicated to providing 1:1 technical assistance to Montgomery County-based biotech and medtech startups.

We’re excited to announce this year’s finalists for the third annual 2022 BioBuzz Awards. These awards celebrate the people and companies across our regional community and their efforts and accomplishments to impact human health and build a stronger biotech community.

The annual BioBuzz awards celebrate the people, companies and communities across the BioHealth Capital Region and, starting this year, Greater Philadelphia. These awards laud and recognize their efforts and to impact human health and build stronger, more vibrant biotech communities.

There are so many people and organizations doing great work in these regions, selecting finalists was not an easy task. We’re very excited to announce this year’s BioBuzz Awards finalists for 2022.

Johns Hopkins Medicine researchers have revamped an anti-cancer drug to better target cancer cells and leave healthy tissues unharmed. Scientists have dubbed this type of targeted approach a “prodrug” — a medicine designed to release its payload in a particular area of the body and in no other areas. The Johns Hopkins-discovered prodrug, called DRP-104 (sirpiglenastat), is in early-stage clinical trials in people with advanced solid tumors. The newly published studies in mice show that the augmented drug preferentially eliminates cancer cells but does not harm healthy cells.

Biotechnology firm Haystack Oncology Inc. has signed a lease in the City Garage Science & Technology Center at the recently rebranded Baltimore Peninsula mixed-use development.

Haystack, which describes itself as developing personalized cancer diagnostics with the potential of leading to proactive clinical interventions, said it’s moving into a 20K SF lab space in City Garage at 101 West Dickman St. by this coming summer.

Image: Google Maps – City Garage in south Baltimore is a former makers’ hub turned life sciences laboratory space.

HILDEN, Germany & GERMANTOWN, Maryland–(BUSINESS WIRE)–QIAGEN N.V. (NYSE: QGEN; Frankfurt Prime Standard: QIA) today announced the launch of the monkeypox (MPXV) test for its NeuMoDx automated PCR platform to strengthen surveillance and research into the current outbreak in non-endemic regions that has infected tens of thousands of people all over the world since first being identified in May 2022.

“NeuMoDx MPXV enables researchers the fast and reliable qualitative detection and differentiation of both monkeypox clades, a huge help for those trying to understand and contain this virus”