BioHealth Innovation Weekly for April 11, 2023

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April 11, 2023

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The BioTalk Podcast Welcomes Dr. Leroy Hood and Dr. Nathan Price, Co-Authors of “The Age of Scientific Wellness”

What if the future of medicine could be personalized, predictive, and empowered by data? In this episode of BioTalk, Rich Bendis discusses this topic with Dr. Leroy Hood and Dr. Nathan Price, the co-authors of the book “The Age of Scientific Wellness: Why the Future of Medicine Is Personalized, Predictive, Data-Rich, and in Your Hands.” Together, they discuss the scientific revolution reshaping the healthcare and medicine landscape.

Dr. Hood and Dr. Price shed light on how cutting-edge technologies, such as genomics and artificial intelligence, are enabling the shift from reactive medicine to proactive, individualized care. They explore the concept of “scientific wellness,” where data-rich insights revolutionize disease prevention and unlock the potential for extended health span. Join us on BioTalk for this thought-provoking exploration of the new frontier of medicine, where health optimization is at the forefront.

Listen now via your favorite podcast platform

Apple - https://apple.co/3mcBOyu
Google - https://bit.ly/3Goa7d6
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3KF6H8b
Amazon Music - https://amzn.to/3KlnNXk
TuneIn - https://bit.ly/439Ths1
YouTube (Audio) - https://bit.ly/3GpKf0t

Gov. Moore to sign bill incentivizing creation of wet lab space, other tech infrastructure - Maryland Inno

Maryland should see a boost in direct public funding toward manufacturing and lab space later this year as Gov. Wes Moore said he plans to sign a bill that will help build out the state's science and technology industries through a new fund.

Image: Wes Moore spoke about several of his plans to boost Maryland's innovation infrastructure at the TechStars Equitech Demo Day on April 4, 2023. Photo by Matt Hooke/Baltimore Business Journal

Phlow Announces over $35M in Series B Funding to Improve the U.S. Medicine Supply Chain

Richmond, VA, April 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Phlow Corp., a U.S.-based public benefit corporation and contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), today announced that it has closed a $36 million Series B capital raise as part of its mission to protect America’s medicine cabinet. Since its launch in 2020, Phlow has been working to leverage advanced development and manufacturing processes to re-imagine the domestic production of key starting materials (KSM), active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), and finished pharmaceutical products that are critical to U.S. healthcare.

Deka Biosciences Announces First-in-Human Dose in Phase 1 Clinical Trial of DK210 (EGFR)

GERMANTOWN, Md., April 5, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Deka Biosciences ("Deka"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing novel cytokine therapies to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases, announced today that the first subject has been dosed in a Phase 1 clinical trial of DK210 (EGFR) at NEXT Oncology in Fairfax, Virginia. The Phase 1, first-in-human, multicenter clinical study seeks to characterize the safety, potential efficacy and evaluate possible biomarkers of response to DK210 (EGFR) in patients with advanced solid cancer(s) who are expressing epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR) (NCT05704985).

"We are beyond thrilled to begin the clinical trial of DK210 (EGFR), marking our first program to enter clinical development," said John Mumm, Ph.D., President and CEO of Deka. "Importantly, we anticipate that the results of the study will confirm the clinical safety, pharmacokinetics, exploratory efficacy and correlative biomarker responses to our first DiakineTM, establishing a solid foundation for the expanded use of this treatment in cancer patients."

Precigen Regains Exclusive Rights to Proven CAR-T Targets, CD19 and BCMA, to Enable Unencumbered Development and Commercialization of UltraCAR-T®

GERMANTOWN, Md., April 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Precigen, Inc. (Nasdaq: PGEN), a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of innovative gene and cell therapies to improve the lives of patients, today announced the amendment of its exclusive license agreement with Alaunos Therapeutics, Inc. (Alaunos).

With this amendment, Precigen has the unique ability to utilize the clinically validated UltraCAR-T platform for unencumbered development and commercialization of two proven CAR-T targets, CD19 and B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA). These targets enhance Precigen's UltraCAR-T library approach, which is designed to transform the personalized cell therapy landscape for cancer patients through the development and validation of a library of non-viral plasmids to target various hematological and solid tumor-associated antigens. Enabled by the design and manufacturing advantages of UltraCAR-T, coupled with the capabilities of the UltraPorator® system, Precigen is working to empower cancer centers to deliver personalized, autologous CAR-T treatment with overnight manufacturing for cancer patients. The addition of CD19 and BCMA targets positions Precigen as a front runner in the CAR-T space.

Commission Appoints Ruchika Nijhara as Executive Director of the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF) | TEDCO

COLUMBIA, Md. (April 4, 2023) – The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission announces the appointment of Ruchika Nijhara, Ph.D., MBA, as executive director of the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (MSCRF). As executive director, Nijhara oversees all MSCRF activities and seven programs accelerating stem cell research, commercialization and cures.

The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission (Commission), which oversees the fund, was established as an independent unit within the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO). It leads the way in identifying and supporting the most promising stem cell technologies in our region.

USP/BioPhorum Joint Workshop on Continuous Manufacturing of Biologics

Continuous manufacturing (CM) is an exciting frontier in drug manufacturing with the capacity to increase process efficiency while reducing costs. Manufacturers are now looking at ways to apply CM to make biologics. Biopharmaceutical continuous manufacturing (BCM) could increase product quality and productivity, enhance the process and product control, and increase flexibility, while also decreasing certain fixed costs associated with facility size and equipment maintenance, thereby reducing the environmental impact. There are barriers to the
widespread adoption of BCM, however

Maryland Governor to sign bill incentivizing creation of wet lab space, other tech infrastructure - BizJournals

Maryland should see a boost in direct public funding toward manufacturing and lab space later this year as Gov. Wes Moore said he plans to sign a bill that will help build out the state’s science and technology industries through a new fund.

Prior to his keynote speech at the TechStars Equitech Demo Day this week, Moore said he planned to sign Senate Bill 549, or House Bill 552, “as soon as it’s on my desk,” which would authorize the creation of the “Build Our Future” grant program to fund infrastructure projects in a variety of technological fields.

SBIR and STTR Applicants: Notice of Upcoming Changes Around Disclosures of Foreign Investments and Affiliations or Relationships | Fenwick & West LLP - JDSupra

TL/DR: For participation in the SBIR and STTR programs, agencies now have a standard set of questions to ask small business concerns about their foreign investments and affiliations. Companies can use the questions to prepare for their disclosures.

The Small Business Administration (SBA) is amending the Policy Directive of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs to harmonize participating agencies’ collection of information about applicants’ foreign investments and affiliations. Participating agencies have been required to collect such disclosures since passing of the SBIR and STTR Extension Act of 2022.

National Cancer Institute WebEx Enterprise Site - Register Meeting

Register to attend a free NIH webinar. Attendees will learn about a new method for administering Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS). This new method improves both the instrumentation used to deliver TMS treatment, and the treatment’s magnetic pulse pattern; which when applied to an awake rat treatment model, was shown to provide significant improvement over conventional TMS treatment methods.

Start-Up Challenge | National Institute on Aging

Through this Challenge, NIA is seeking researchers and entrepreneurs with a demonstrated need who have innovative ideas for science-driven technologies and products with the potential to increase the diversity of NIA-funded small business research and development. Entrepreneurs from groups underrepresented in health-related sciences are strongly encouraged to apply.

Machine learning experts from around the world compete to improve cancer immunotherapy | Broad Institute

Marios Gavrielatos had never participated in a machine learning competition when he decided to enter the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Center’s Cancer Immunotherapy Data Science Grand Challenge.

Gavrielatos’ friend and colleague, Konstantinos Kyriakidis, asked him to team up in the competition after learning about it from a promotional video on YouTube.

Image: Credit: Rita Elena Serda, Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health A pseudo-colored scanning electron micrograph shows two T cells (red) attacking a cancer cell (white)

A SELL-OUT crowd is anticipated for the AURP Bio Health Caucus in Boston, planned prior to the BIO International Convention.

Focusing on building research space supporting communities of bio innovations, we invite developers, A/E firms, researchers, economic development reps, VC firms, and bio innovation district managers to attend.

Click here to learn more.