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Orgenesis Inc. (OTCQB: ORGS), a fully-integrated cell therapy and contract development and manufacturing company, announced that its Belgian subsidiary, Orgenesis SPRL, has received the formal approval from the Walloon Region, Belgium (Service Public of Wallonia, DGO6) for a budget of EUR 12.3 million ($12.8 million) support program for the GMP production of AIP cells for two clinical trials that will be performed in Germany and Belgium. The project support will be for a period of three years commencing on January 1, 2017.

Of the approved amount, a total of EUR 3.3 million is budgeted for a development work at our Belgian-based subsidiary, MaSTherCell S.A.

In labs testing how brain implants could help people with physical disabilities, tales of success can be bittersweet.

Experiments like those that let a paralyzed person swig coffee using a robotic arm, or that let blind people “see” spots of light, have proven the huge potential of computers that interface with the brain. But the implanted electrodes used in such trials eventually become useless, as scar tissue forms that degrades their electrical connection to brain cells (see “The Thought Experiment”).

Which state has the nation’s most research-intensive economy? California? Massachusetts? North Carolina?

Actually it’s Maryland. A greater portion of Maryland’s economy comes from private, federal, and university research spending than any state (with the exception of rural New Mexico with its two large federal labs).  But not enough of us recognize that.

Hot off the (online) presses: the first annual Year-End Market Report produced by MCEDC. How does the employment rate in Montgomery County compare to the state? What are the biggest business highlights from last year? How does the future look for the county? Find these answers, and more.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. (NYSE:EBS) today announced that it has received a task order from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) valued at up to $30.5 million to develop monoclonal antibody therapeutics for viral hemorrhagic fever. This task order will utilize the company’s Center for Innovation in Advanced Development and Manufacturing (CIADM) facility located in Baltimore, Maryland. Using monoclonal antibodies from Mapp Biopharmaceutical Inc., the company will conduct technology transfer of process materials and information, perform process and analytical method development, execute small-scale production runs, and perform cGMP cell banking leading to cGMP manufacture of bulk drug substance. The task order consists of a 36-month period of performance with a base task order valued at $7.4 million and options that, if executed, will bring the total task order value over three years to up to $30.5 million.

Scientists are no strangers to having their work questioned by lawmakers, and now they are fighting back.

On April 22, scientists and their supporters will hold a March for Science to advocate for science and evidence-based research in policies. The main march will be held in Washington, D.C., and satellite marches will be held in other cities, as they were with the Women’s March the day after the inauguration. And the march’s organizers say they aren’t just fighting for more funding for science, or more influence in policy, but also to raise awareness about the type of research they’re doing.

The recent flurry of activity around the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has many people confused about where it stands, and what the employer’s obligations are. The following summarizes the activity so far.

Legislative Repeal Activity

A popular meme suggests that the Senate voted to eliminate virtually all of the provisions of the ACA, including the ability to obtain insurance in spite of pre-existing conditions, the requirement to cover adult children up to the age of 26, etc. This is not the case.

President Donald Trump’s new health secretary took office Friday after becoming the latest Cabinet nominee to eke out a confirmation victory in the bitterly divided Senate.

Vice President Mike Pence administered the oath of office to Tom Price, of Georgia, at the White House hours after the Senate confirmed him 52-47 in a party-line vote. That roll call came in the dead of night, thanks to Democrats’ tactic of forcing prolonged debates to broadcast their opposition to Trump and his team.

Researchers from the University of Maryland College Park (UMD) and Baltimore (UMB) campuses have developed a blood test that could help doctors more quickly diagnose schizophrenia and other disorders. Their study, “Redox Probing for Chemical Information of Oxidative Stress,” was recently published in the journal Analytical Chemistry.

“We hope our new technique will allow a more rapid detection and intervention for schizophrenia, and ultimately lead to better outcomes,” said Gregory Payne, one of the authors and a joint professor with UMD’s Fischell Department of Bioengineering (BIOE) and the Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR).