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Kyushu University and the University System of Maryland exchanged memorandums of understanding on Tuesday to work together on cybersecurity education and research. It will be the first cooperation between a Japanese and U.S. university in the area of cybersecurity.

Setsuo Arikawa, the president of Kyushu University, visited Maryland to sign the memorandums with William Kirwan, the chancellor of the University System of Maryland, to create a partnership with the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Johns Hopkins University is one of eight Baltimore universities and hospitals that today joined Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake to sign a pledge to work together to grow and revitalize the city and to help solve some of its most pressing challenges.

The Baltimore City Anchor Plan targets four priority areas—public safety, local hiring, local purchasing, and quality of life in the city. In a memo introducing the plan, Rawlings-Blake said that the signing institutions, which are among the city’s largest employers, are integral to her goals of attracting new families to Baltimore and increasing jobs and investment.

The BioMaryland Center is pairing up with a French life science organization to support a business venture between two companies.

BioMaryland and Medicen Paris Region will each invest $200,000 in a commercialization project between Opticul Diagnostics in Rockville and the French company Diafir. Each company will also put $200,000 toward the project for a total investment of $800,000.

Johns Hopkins University affiliate Jhpiego has been awarded a five-year, $500 million contract to lead a federal global health program.

The Baltimore nonprofit organization will lead the Maternal and Child Survival Program, which targets preventable maternal and child deaths in 24 countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and the Middle East that have the highest mother and child death rates. The award is from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

BIO BizLink is an online platform that connects life sciences companies with an unparalleled community of pre-clinical and clinical R&D service vendors

BIO BizLink is a portal to an unparalleled community of R&D vendors – including pre-clinical and clinical Contract Research Organiza­tions (CROs), Contract Manufacturing Organizations (CMOs), and regulatory consultants – and a platform to take the administrative hassle out of RFP, vendor, and project management.

User on the platform can explore the community to find specific services and expertise; review company profiles and key personnel; start conversations about prior experiences; invite vendors to submit proposals; and execute confidentiality agreements. BIO BizLink was developed and launched as a cooperative effort among BIO, its State and Regional Affiliates and OnDeckBiotech.

The University of Maryland School of Medicine’s Maryland Psychiatric Research Center (MPRC), a research center in the School’s Department of Psychiatry, was awarded a $10.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to establish a Silvio O. Conte Neuroscience Research Center that will examine the causes of schizophrenia and search for possible new treatments. Schizophrenia is a devastating psychiatric disease, affecting one percent of people worldwide. Although its roots have been traced to abnormal early brain development, the cause remains a mystery, and current treatments are limited.

The five-year NIH grant*, one of only two awarded this year nationwide, will enable researchers to conduct breakthrough research, combining laboratory and clinical studies of a key chemical called kynurenic acid, a major breakdown product of the amino acid tryptophan. Kynurenic acid levels are increased in the brain of individuals with schizophrenia, and appear to contribute especially to the cognitive abnormalities, which are core symptoms of the disease and a major reason for the inability of people with the disorder to lead productive and fulfilling lives.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. – Product Pipeline Review – 2014 is a new market research publication announced by Reportstack. This report provides an overview of the Emergent BioSolutions Inc.’s pharmaceutical research and development focus.

This report provides comprehensive information on the current therapeutic developmental pipeline of Emergent BioSolutions Inc.’s, complete with comparative analysis at various stages, therapeutics assessment by drug target, mechanism of action (MoA), route of administration (RoA) and molecule type. It also reviews latest updates, and featured news and press releases, along with special features on late-stage and discontinued projects.

Sept. 18 – 19

Baltimore Marriott Inner Harbor at Camden Yards

Baltimore, MD USA

The AUTM 2014 Eastern Region Meeting will gather more than 200 technology transfer professionals in Baltimore, MD to discuss best practices and strategies for industry-academia partnerships that culminate in successful product commercialization through company formation or licensing and other agreements.

Healthbox, a leading business accelerator focused on healthcare technology and technology-enabled companies, today confirmed it is taking its accelerator program to Salt Lake City this August. Through partnerships with innovative organizations Intermountain Healthcare and HealthEquity, in addition to Zion’s Bank and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), Healthbox is sourcing companies, regardless of development stage, that meet the needs of a rapidly changing healthcare industry. The companies selected for the 16-week program will have unique access to Healthbox strategic partners, gaining an understanding of the key challenges plaguing these organizations and how to adapt their solutions to truly solve these challenges.

“We are thrilled to expand to Salt Lake City and build relationships with the local community. Utah has one of the fastest growing economies, and we believe there is a large opportunity to elevate the recognition of the area’s talented healthcare entrepreneurs,” says Nina Nashif, founder and CEO of Healthbox. “As Healthbox continues to grow, it is important that we commit to communities with both strong local health economies and an interest in advancing innovation.”