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Rockville, Maryland’s Fina Biosolutions recently was awarded an SBIR grant to develop a genetically detoxified tetanus toxin as a carrier protein for conjugate vaccines.  The NIAID funded grant is for $289,000 and will use a mutant toxin engineered by Dr. Joseph Barbieri of the Medical College of Wisconsin.  FinaBio’s Scientific Director, Andrew Lees, noted “We are very appreciative of the help from BHI in securing this grant which will help us to commercialize a new genetically detoxified vaccine carrier protein that complements our existing conjugate vaccine portfolio.” FinaBio has created an E. coli strain with an oxidative intracellular environment that grows to very high densities and can express soluble disulfide bonded proteins. The mutant tetanus toxin will be produced in this E. coli strain and compared as vaccine carrier protein with the chemically detoxified protein.  Fina Bio received assistance from Biohealth Innovation (BHI) in preparing the SBIR grant application through its Federal Funding Assistance program.

Vice President for Health Sciences & Technology, Virginia Tech

 Chancellor – University System of Maryland

Jay A. Perman, MD, became the fifth chancellor of the University System of Maryland (USM) in January 2020. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Perman, a pediatric gastroenterologist, served as president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) for nearly a decade. As UMB president, Dr. Perman strengthened that institution’s ties to the city of Baltimore, growing innovation-based economic development activities and spearheading programs to improve the health and well-being of UMB’s closest neighbors.

Dr. Perman’s UMB presidency was marked by excellence in education and research. Each of UMB’s professional schools—medicine, law, dentistry, pharmacy, nursing, and social work—has been singled out for recognition in national and international publications, most notably in U.S. News & World Report’s Best Graduate Schools, U.S. News & World Report’s Global University Rankings, and the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

As chancellor, Dr. Perman has committed to advancing higher education affordability for all students in Maryland. He also plans to build on USM’s reputation for educational innovation, particularly in research, economic development, and community engagement.

Dr. Perman received his Doctor of Medicine degree with Distinction in 1972 from Northwestern University. After his residency in pediatrics at Northwestern University Children’s Memorial Hospital, he completed a fellowship in pediatric gastroenterology at Harvard Medical School and at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Boston in 1977.

Principal – Deloitte Consulting, LLP

Juergen Klenk, Ph.D. is a Principal in Deloitte’s Federal Health Sector. He has a deep technical expertise combined with strong business acumen and a track record of over 20 years of experience in leadership, strategic planning, business development, consulting, project management, science and technology, analytics, and research. Dr. Klenk is highly experienced entrepreneur and thought leader who has demonstrated the ability to start up, grow, and successfully establish innovative businesses in Health Analytics. He has successfully led teams across a wide variety of health and science focused organizations including government health care organizations (e.g., HHS, NIH, FDA, CDC, CMS, and VA), academic medical centers, commercial health care providers, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and nonprofit organizations. He served as CEO and CTO of a bioinformatics startup company that pioneered AI technology for image and text analytics of biomedical data. For the past 15 years, his work has beeb focused on topics including precision medicine, health data strategy at the intersection of ML/AI, Cloud, and Cyber, clinical trials optimization, health outcomes research, and scientific research and innovation.

Dr. Klenk has authored numerous publications in peer-reviewed journals, holds multiple patents, and has been invited to present at multiple international conferences. He holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Germany), and a masters degree in mathematics and Physics from Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Germany), as well as a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification.

Executive Director and Broker Lead for JLL’s Maryland Region

Peter Briskman is the Executive Director and Broker Lead for JLL’s Maryland Region. His primary focus is on Tenant Advisory Services working with Life Science Occupants locally and nationally on complex real estate and leasing strategies for Headquarter transactions, relocations, build-to-suits, renewals, expansions, and consolidations. His applied expertise includes strategic real estate planning, municipal incentive negotiations, lease structuring/transactions, portfolio management, and capital markets investment sales.

He is the recipient of GWCAR’s Commercial Leasing Broker of the Year and has been recognized with GWCAR Office Leasing Transactions of the Year for multiple clients.

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