The United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) has selected the University of Maryland Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program (EIP) as the first-place winner for an Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education award in the Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program category, university officials announced today.

A joint initiative of the The Honors College and A. James Clark School of Engineering's Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute (Mtech), EIP is a two-year, living-learning program for freshman and sophomore honors students that fosters an entrepreneurial spirit, creates a sense of community and cooperation, and develops ethical and innovative leaders.

It should come as no surprise that the University of Maryland has once again received an honorable accolade for its commitment to innovation. The College Park school has been dubbed the top most underrated public school for tech entrepreneurship by StartEngine, the state of Maryland has been named the top state for innovation and entrepreneurship, proving that UMD is chock full of talented individuals, and now UMD has been recognized with a national award for excellence in entrepreneurship education.

Announced Thursday, the United States Association for Small Business Entrepreneurship chose the UMD Entrepreneurship Innovation Program as the first place winner for an Excellence in Entrepreneurship Education Award in the Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program category.

Remember the news of Rockville-based Human Genome Sciences Inc. getting scooped up by London-based GlaxoSmithKline PLC back in mid-2012?

The acquisition news was reported internationally, but the aftermath of the $3 billion buyout is not as widely known.

Johns Hopkins University will share in a $20 million award from GE and the National Football League to improve diagnosis and treatment for concussions, which has become a major focus as more is learned about the lasting effects of mild traumatic brain injury.

The grants aim to benefit professional football players, who have been seeking compensation for their injuries and means to reduce problems. The grants also will benefit the community as a whole, officials said. Each grant recipient will receive $300,000.

Emergent BioSolutions Inc. announced today the pricing of its offering of $215 million aggregate principal amount of 2.875% Convertible Senior Notes due 2021 (the “Notes”) in a private placement to qualified institutional buyers pursuant to Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), which was upsized from the previously announced $200 million offering. Emergent also granted the initial purchasers an option to purchase up to an additional $35 million aggregate principal amount of the Notes.

Emergent intends to use a majority of the net proceeds from the offering to finance the acquisition of Cangene Corporation, announced in December 2013. The company intends to use any remaining net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes.

I am clearly on a digital health kick, blog-wise, as I look back on my last few posts. Having spent time at both CES and the JP Morgan Healthcare conference, where digital health was a hot topic, it seems that the subsector is definitely having its day in the sun. I was particularly honored to be named among the 2013 “Top 50 in Digital Health” by a group comprised of Rock Health, Goldman Sachs, Silicon Valley Bank, and Fenwick & West. There are some pretty smart people on the list with me and it is very gratifying to be in such great company (nice article about the list by Wade Roush at Xconomy can be read HERE).

On the other hand, I was feeling a little inadequate being on the list without my own digital health start-up to show for it. I mean, hey, there I am among the actual innovators who dreamed up such cool companies as MC10, Evolent, Pokitdok, Athena Health, and a host of others with only my investment checkbook and blog to show for it. Given that it is the year of the wearables, as anyone who went to CES could readily attest, and that the entrepreneurs in that sector were well represented in the Top 50 list (FitBit’s James Park, Misfit Wearables’ Sonny Vu, etc), I have decided to throw my own hat (wrist?) in the ring on this sector.

The Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC), whose mission is to bolster technology transfer (T2) among federal labs, agencies, and academic institutions, will hold it’s 2014 National Meeting in Rockville, Maryland from April 21 – 23, 2014 at the North Bethesda Marriott Hotel.

Included among the hundreds expected in attendance are, federal and industry technology transfer (T2) professionals, patent attorneys, licensing professionals, and scientists, along with other members of the FLC community. In sticking with the mission of the FLC and striving to simultaneously meet the needs of our nation’s progressive industry, this year’s FLC National Meeting is centered on the theme of accelerating innovation for economic impact.

National health organizations are constantly updating the treatment guidelines doctors are expected to follow. These guidelines come to hospitals and doctors daily and must be manually added to the hospital’s electronic record-keeping system. It’s drudgery, and at one time was the domain of Noah Weiner while working at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

That work led him to ask a question that has sparked many an entrepreneurial venture: “There must be a better way to do this.”

Johns Hopkins University President Ronald Daniels explains how the institution is pushing harder to commercialize research and build resources for startups in Baltimore.

If you have a sneaking suspicion that your passwords are bad, we have some upsetting news: They probably are.

Luckily, SplashData is here to help you change your lazy ways with its annual list of the worst online passwords.

I mean, we wear computers on our faces now. Using "password" as your password just seems out of place in a world where you can wear computers on your face, doesn't it? We should know better by now. Looking at SplashData's findings, it's pretty incredible to learn that many of us don't.

The NIH is the premier biomedical research center for the world. Its 27 Institutes and Centers employ approximately 18,000 employees doing a vast array of jobs, all supporting efforts for a healthy nation.

The Office of Translational Alliances and Coordination (OTAC) in the Division of Extramural Research Activities (DERA), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is seeking outstanding candidates for the Health Scientist Administrator (Business Development Specialist) position. The OTAC is charged with accelerating the translation of basic discoveries and innovations into new diagnostics, devices, and therapeutics, and facilitating the development of new technologies via Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) initiatives. The Office facilitates identification of emerging areas of translational opportunities and provides functional integration by developing interdependent teams that leverage resources and intellect across the NHLBI, and with other NIH Institutes, agencies, and organizations. The OTAC enhances communication and coordination between existing programs, develops and coordinates strategic initiatives and Funding Opportunity Announcements (FOAs), and identifies and capitalizes on synergies to meet and enhance program goals.

More Information

The data is in, and there is no question that 2013 was the most active year for biotechnology initial public offerings since 2000. During the 12 months ended in December, 38 biotech companies debuted on Wall Street, all but two of which were listed on the Nasdaq exchange, according to FactSet, a Norwalk, Conn.-based provider of financial analytics. The performance of the biotech class of 2013 was rather impressive: As a group, the shares of the newly public companies rose 43% through the end of the year.

When I say in Cambridge, I’m speaking figuratively about Medimmune; Babraham, Melbourn and Granta Park could be described as “Cambridge, but in pretty countryside without the traffic problems”. That aside, the story told at the Cambridge Network meeting today was one of our regions great successes. We were privileged to have an insight provided by Jon Green, VP Business Operations, Medimmune and and Dr Paul Varley, VP Science and Collaborations, Biopharmaceutical Development.

It all started with CAT, Cambridge Antibody Technology, back in the 90s. The company was founded on the development of an antibody technology.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has found two leaders from within the agency to spearhead technology and operations in Medicare and Medicaid, naming David Nelson CIO and Tim Love COO.

The two long-time CMS staffers, both former members of the military, replace two other long-time agency leaders and are overseeing the most significant health coverage and regulatory expansions in the agency’s history.

The race for the $1,000 genome has been won.

Biotech firm Illumina sent shockwaves through the biotech industry this week by unveiling a new machine that can sequence a full human genome for $1,000. Until Illumina came along, genome sequencing cost approximately $5,000, which is out of range for many patients.

In 2011, the executives of Savi Technology faced a classic business problem. To cut costs, they needed to close one of their three offices and consolidate their workers in another. Their choices were Mountain View, Calif., home to their hardware engineers; Lexington, Ky., where officials were dangling a wide array of tax breaks if Savi expanded there; and Alexandria, in an office park a stone’s throw from the Capital Beltway.

The company’s engineers warned executives that they would have trouble finding enough similarly skilled employees outside Silicon Valley, especially in the Washington area. The executives decided to ditch California anyway and move their headquarters to Virginia.

A new MRSA test that helps you detect recently emerged strains has earned the Food and Drug Administration's market approval, says manufacturer BD Diagnostics.

The BD MAX MRSA XT Assay is the company's second test that can detect MRSA strains with the mecC gene, but the first that can do so via a nasal swab. The earlier version, released in 2013, could be used only on patients about to undergo surgery.

Researchers and physicians at The Johns Hopkins University will collaborate with Belgian nanoelectronics research center imec to advance silicon applications in health care, beginning with development of a point-of-care device to enable a broad range of clinical tests to be performed outside the laboratory. The collaboration, announced today, will combine the Johns Hopkins clinical and research expertise with imec’s technical capabilities. The two organizations plan to forge strategic ties with additional collaborators across the value chain in the health care and technology sectors.

“Johns Hopkins has always prioritized innovative and transformative research opportunities,” said Landon King, M.D., the David Marine Professor of Medicine and executive vice dean of the school of medicine. “Our new collaboration with imec is such an opportunity, and we very much look forward to leveraging our respective strengths across the university in biomedical and nanotechnology research to improve patient diagnosis and care throughout the world.”

The 8th Annual Postdoc Conference and Career Fair is April 24, 2013 at the Bethesda North Marriott Conference Center. The event draws and average of 500 postdoctoral fellows from federal and university laboratories who are finishing their fellowships in the STEM fields and are seeking professional employment. The conference portion of the event runs concurrently with the career fair, and focuses on such topics as preparing for an interview and exploring non-traditional careers. The conference is organized by a symposium of government, private, educational and economic development organizations. Company registration for the career fair portion is now open and starts at $500.

Thinking about Big Pharma’s relationship with the biotech industry last week at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco reminded me of an old physical education teacher I had in 7th grade.

This guy was feared for his patented “pinch.” He would grab misbehaving teenage boys by the clavicle, and squeeze so hard that his thumb and index finger almost completely wrapped around the bone. He would then drag the pimply, 100-pound punk to his office for a scolding.

New data show that local venture-capital deals have come roaring back after the economic downturn.

Investors pumped $1.54 billion into Washington area companies last year, the largest sum in more than a decade. The figures suggest that venture capitalists may be more bullish on the state of the economy and are loosening their purse strings as a result.

DreamIt Ventures, a pre-seed stage venture firm, has announced that Kaiser Permanente will be joining its Baltimore accelerator, joining Northrop Grumman Corporation, BioHealth Innovation, and Johns Hopkins University.

The nine start-ups will undergo a four month long program including guidance on resource access, seed capital, and the healthcare, technology, and business marketplaces. The organizations will also be mentored the high-profile partners.

DreamIt Ventures‘ Baltimore accelerator is adding another prestigious partner to its ranks: Kaiser Permanente will join the organization’s leadership team, alongside Johns Hopkins University, Northrop Grumman Corporation and BioHealth Innovation.

“We look forward to working with these very promising new healthcare technology companies where we can provide access to industry leading health professionals and a real world laboratory to test the usability and effectiveness of next generation technology solutions” Kim Horn, president of the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the Mid-Atlantic States, Inc., said in a statement.

Five Baltimore companies are among the startups that will be the first through a new health IT accelerator in the city.

A total of nine companies from around the world were selected for DreamIt Health Baltimore’s inaugural program, which officially begins Jan. 20. The accelerator program lasts four months and includes seed funding, mentorship from veteran entrepreneurs, workspace and other resources to help participants’ businesses take off. It is designed help startup companies power through early problems and prepare for the market.

Johns Hopkins was a city within a city.

A gleaming, state-of-the-art, wonder-what’s-going-on-in-there mansion smack in the middle of a rundown Baltimore neighborhood.
Hopkins has always been involved in Baltimore to some extent. The university and the health system employ roughly 50,000 people in the Baltimore area, making them the two largest employers here. Their construction projects inject millions into the local economy. But Hopkins’ reputation is as a world-renowned medical research giant

Johns Hopkins' quest to build bridges in Baltimore

Q&A with Johns Hopkins University President Ronald Daniels

Q&A with Johns Hopkins Hospital President Ronald Peterson

Q&A with Johns Hopkins’ new tech transfer chief

Here's a look at some Johns Hopkins spinoffs

Johns Hopkins is making primary care a priority

Johns Hopkins' storied history in medical discoveries

Johns Hopkins' reach goes well beyond Baltimore's borders

Johns Hopkins' top priorities include EBDI, Homewood

10 fun facts about Johns Hopkins

Johns Hopkins lags in generating startups, new patents

Abstracts are solicited for oral or poster presentation. Submissions will be reviewed and selected by the conference technical program committee. Abstract preparation guidelines.

Please visit the symposia pages for information about the scope and aims of each symposium and to learn about our prestigious invited/keynote speakers

• Nanotech2014, Advanced Materials and Applications
• Microtech2014, Electonics and Sensors
• Biotech2014, Pharma and Biomaterials
• Cleantech2014, Energy and Efficiency

Important Dates

• Final Abstracts Due: January 22nd
• Notification to March 7th
• Papers Due: April 11th

Authors of research submissions, upon acceptance, must register for the conference.

Johns Hopkins University's board of trustees has voted to renew the contract of President Ronald J. Daniels, keeping him at the helm of the nation's first research university for another five years. The unanimous board action today signaled a strong and clear endorsement for Daniels, who has been instrumental in leading and advancing the mission of the university.

The reappointment, announced by board chairman Jeffrey H. Aronson, extends Daniels' contract to 2019.

Venture capitalists more than doubled their investment in companies based Baltimore- and Washington, D.C.-area companies in 2013.

Venture firms invested more than $1.5 billion in the region in 2013, making that the biggest year for investment since 2001, according to the latest MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association. Maryland companies took in 43 percent of that investment money.

Funding and Research Opportunities

The following funding opportunity announcements from the NHLBI or other components of the National Institutes of Health, might be of interest:

NIH Guide Notices:

• NOT-RM-14-005: Change of Application Due Date for RFA-RM-13-015 "NIH Coordination and Evaluation Center (CEC) (U54)"
• NOT-RM-14-004: Notice of Change to Application Due Date for RFA-RM-13-017 NIH National Research Mentoring Network (NRMN) (U54)
• NOT-RM-14-003: Notice of Change in Application Due Date for RFA-RM-13-016 NIH Building Infrastructure Leading to Diversity (BUILD ) Initiative (U54)
• NOT-HL-14-203: Request for Information: Topics to be Considered for Systematic Reviews and a Possible Update to Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Management of Asthma
• NOT-HG-14-017: Notice of NHGRI Participation in PA-14-015 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grants (Parent T32) and Creation of New NHGRI Postdoctoral Training Programs in Genomic Medicine Research
• NOT-HG-14-016: Notice of NHGRI Participation in PA-14-015 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award (NRSA) Institutional Research Training Grants (Parent T32) and Restructuring of NHGRI Training Programs Focused on Genomic Sciences
• NOT-GM-14-102: Notice of National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Participation in RFA-HG-14-001 "BD2K-LINCS-Perturbation Data Coordination and Integration Center (DCIC) (U54)"
• NOT-GM-14-101: Notice of National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) Participation in RFA-HL-14-031 "Development of an NIH BD2K Data Discovery Index Coordination Consortium (U24)"

Please note that most links to RFAs, PAs, and Guide Notices will take you to the NIH Web site. RFPs will take you to FedBizOpps. Links to RFPs will not work past their proposal receipt date. Archived versions of RFPs posted on FedBizOpps can be found on the FedBizOpps site using the FedBizOpps search function. Under “Document to Search,” select Archived Documents.

Underwriters have snapped up another 1 million shares of GlycoMimetics Inc. stock, the Gaithersburg biotech announced this week, marking the close of its $64.4 million initial public offering.

GLYC debuted on the Nasdaq last week in the Washington region's first IPO of 2014, selling a total 8 million shares at $8 apiece. Net proceeds to the company will be around $57.4 million, much of which will pay expenses to advance one of its oncology drug candidates through the clinic.

Thursday, January 30 | 1:30 – 6:30 pm

Shark Tank is a one-of-a-kind event where industry experts pose stimulating questions to CBID MSE student teams about their medtech projects. A mid-year design project showcase and reception will follow the challenging throw down.

It’s rare for me to hear a panel discussion on digital health and not hear the same conversation repeated and reiterated over and over again. In a discussion between health IT company CEOs at the JP Morgan Healthcare conference, some of the most interesting points raised were the ones the healthcare industry is struggling with the most. Of course, there were a lot of sound bites too. Here are five of the most interesting digital health insights.

If you control the capital, you control the data and if you control the data, you control the product. This is a sound bite, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Providers’ relationship with their digital health companies revolves around this balance. Digital health companies are using their technology to help providers deliver better patient care. But investors have an impact in shaping business model. With the shift to outcomes-based care, data generated by digital health tools will become even more critical to care delivery.

Gov. Martin O'Malley on Wednesday unwrapped his eighth and final budget, a $39 billion plan that increases spending on tax credits for cyber security, biotechnology and research and development while holding the line on taxes.

For fiscal 2015, O'Malley has proposed hiking the biotech and life sciences tax credit by 20 percent, to $12 million. He wants to increase the cyber tax credit by 33 percent, to $4 million and raise the credit for research and development by 12.5 percent, to $9 million.

What would your business do with $100,000?

For more than a dozen Maryland technology startups, dreams of expansion and development are becoming a reality with the help of awards from the state-sponsored Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO).

TEDCO announced on Tuesday that 13 startups received total funding of $1.3 million, $100,000 each, between July 2013 and January 2014, through the organization’s Technology Commercialization Fund (TCF). The companies range from i-Lighting, an InvestMaryland Challenge winner and lighting system innovator, to Graftworx, a high-tech medical device developer.

From wearable technologies that track back posture, blood pressure and brain waves to connected cars and homes, the 152,000 attendees at this year's Consumer Electronics Show were treated to some of the most innovative wireless technologies global innovation has to offer. So dazzling and ubiquitous were the wireless innovations not just on display --but in use-- that the event easily could have been rebranded as the Consumer Mobile Show.

While many gadgets offer great fun, many more actually save lives. I was honored to lead a conversation on the coming wave of mobile innovation in digital health through next generation wireless sensors which we are implanting inside our bodies called "The Internet of You." Panelists Dr. Fran Kauffman, the Chief Medical Officer of Medtronic Diabetes and Dr. Christian Holz, a Research Scientist in the mobile innovation group at Yahoo! Labs brilliantly described the progress being made in this next powerful frontier of mobile innovation.