Uncategorized

Today, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker announced the 25 awardees that will receive $10 million under the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) 2015 Regional Innovation Strategies (RIS) program. The 2015 RIS program is managed by EDA’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE) and is designed to advance innovation and capacity-building activities in regions across the country through two different competitions: the i6 Challenge and the Seed Fund Support (SFS) Grants competition.

“As the driving force behind the Administration’s focus on entrepreneurship, the Department of Commerce is committed to helping set the conditions for innovators and entrepreneurs to test new ideas, take risks, find financing and customers, and ultimately thrive,” said Secretary Pritzker. “The Regional Innovation Strategies program is critical to ensuring that entrepreneurs have access to the tools they need to move their ideas and inventions from idea to market.”

Hear from the exciting companies completing the first Relevant Health cohort! This event is currently invite only, but if you would like to find out more and possibly attend please send an email to info@relevanthealth.md

To find out more about the cohort, click here!

– Several BHI Board Members and Designees Among Those Appointed by Governor Hogan

– Chancellor Robert L. Caret Joins BHI Board of Directors as Representative for the University System of Maryland (USM)

Rich Bendis, BioHealth Innovation, Inc. (BHI) President and CEO, was recently appointed to serve on Governor Larry Hogan’s Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board (LSAB). Mr. Bendis is one of 16 individuals who represent Maryland’s key federal, academic and industry organizations on the LSAB.

Several members of the BHI Board of Directors, including Dan Abdun-Nabi, President and CEO of Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (who also serves as LSAB Chair); Doug Liu, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Operations at Qiagen Sciences Inc.; and Mike Gill, Secretary of the Maryland Department of Commerce, were also among those newly appointed to the LSAB. BHI Board alternate designees Christy Wyskiel, Senior Advisor to the President of Johns Hopkins University, and Jarrod Borkat, MedImmune’s Head of External Collaborations, Biotech Hubs and Government Contracting, are also new LSAB appointees.

Sixteen leaders from key federal, academic and industry organizations have been appointed by Governor Larry Hogan to the Maryland Life Sciences Advisory Board (LSAB).

The new appointees include a patient advocate, executives from global life sciences companies with U.S. headquarters in Maryland, small biotechnology companies, and leaders from the University of Maryland, University of Maryland Baltimore, Johns Hopkin University, Montgomery College, NIH, FDA and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command.

We are very excited to welcome Andrea Custead and Yesenia Estrada to the BHI team!

The D.C. area is home to a number of great startup accelerators that can really make a difference for young companies. The right program can provide the resources and advice that entrepreneurs need to transform what may be a great idea into a viable product and thriving startup. Check out a few of the newer and vertical-specific accelerator programs in the D.C. area that you should keep an eye on in 2016.

Leiden-based biotechnology company Mimetas has received 1.6 million USD funding for development of an organ-on-a-chip model for neurotoxicity. The aim of the project is to improve existing neurotoxicity tests and to reduce experimentation on animals. A panel of experts from BASF, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Abbvie, NC3Rs and renowned academic institutions has selected the Mimetas solution from a lineup of strong competitors. Mimetas will lead the consortium, which also includes the Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (Utrecht, The Netherlands) and Cellular Dynamics International (Wisconsin, USA).